Books by Members

Recent Elected Members

Professor Robert FoxUniversity of Oxford (United Kingdom)

Robert Fox took a doctorate in the history of science at Oxford, after reading physics as an undergraduate. Following twenty years at the University of Lancaster and brief periods at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie (La Villette) in Paris and the Science Museum, London, he was professor of the history of science at Oxford from 1988 to 2006. As Emeritus Professor since 2006, he has held visiting positions in a number of universities and research groups in the USA and Europe. His interests have been mainly in the history of physics and the relations between science, technology, and industry in Europe since the eighteenth century. His latest book, Science without frontiers: cosmopolitanism and nationhood in the world of learning, 1870-1940, is due to be published in 2016.

Professor Klaus MüllenMax-Planck-Institute (Germany)

Klaus Müllen joined the Max Planck Society in 1989 as one of the directors of the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research. His PhD degree was granted by the University of Basel in 1972. He received his habilitation in 1977 at ETH, Zürich. In 1979 he became a Professor at the University of Cologne, and in 1983 at the Johannes-Gutenberg-University, Mainz.

In 1993 he was awarded the Max Planck Forschungspreis, in 1997 the Philip Morris Forschungspreis, in 2001 the Nozoe-Award, in 2002 the Kyoto University Foundation Award, in 2003 the Science Award of the “Stifterverband”, in 2006 the Belgian Polymer Award, in 2008 the Innovation Award, the Nikolaus August Otto Award and 2009 the Society of Polymer Science Japan International Award. Many more honors followed since then: 2011 ACS Award in Polymer Chemistry; Tsungming Tu Award, Taiwan; 2012 BASF-Award for Organic Electronics; 2013 Franco-German Award of the Sociéte Chimique de France; Adolf-von-Baeyer-Medal, GDCh; Utz-Helmut Felcht Award, SGL Group; ChinaNANO Award. In 2014 he obtained the Carl Friedrich Gauß-Medal of the "Braunschweigischen Wissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft" and he is winner of the 2014 ACS Nano Lectureship Award.

Klaus Müllen obtained honorary professorships from East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai; the Institute of Chemistry Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing; and the University of Heidelberg, as well as Honorary Doctorate degrees from University of Sofia, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Jiatong University, Shanghai. From 2008-2009 he served as president of the German Chemical Society (GDCh). In 2010 he received an Advanced ERC Grant for his work on nanographenes. 2013 he was elected as president of the German Association for the Advancement of Science and Medicine and in 2013 he got an appointment as honorary member of the distinguished American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

He is currently associate editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. His broad research interests range from the development of new polymer-forming reactions, including methods of organometallic chemistry, to the chemistry and physics of small molecules, graphenes, dendrimers and biosynthetic hybrids. His work further encompasses the formation of multi-dimensional polymers with complex shape-persistent architectures, nanocomposites, and molecular materials with liquid crystalline properties for electronic and optoelectronic devices. He owns about 60 patents, published nearly 1700 papers.

Professor Hans FoellmerUniversity of Berlin (Germany)

Hans Follmer is a German probabilist, known for his contributions to Stochastic Analysis and to Mathematical Finance. After studies of Mathematics, Physics and Philosophy at the Universities of Koln, Gottingen, Paris and Erlangen, Hans Follmer obtained his PhD in 1968 in Erlangen and spent several years as Postdoc, rst in Erlangen and then in the US at MIT and Dartmouth College. He then held positions as Professor of Mathematics or Statistics at the Universities of Frankfurt (1973-74) and Bonn (1974-77), at ETH Zurich (1977 - 88), Bonn (1988 - 1994), and since 1994 at Humboldt University in Berlin. He has been Visiting Professor at a number of universities, including Paris VI and VII, Paris-Dauphine, TU Munchen and LMU Munchen, Princeton University, Columbia University, and the University of Tokyo, and he has been Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell Unversity (2008 - 2014). At present he is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Humboldt University, Distinguished Visiting Professor at the National University of Singapore, Professeur Invite at the University of Luxembourg, and Rothschild Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Isaac Newton Institute in Cambridge Hans Follmer has received numerous awards, including the Science prize of the German Society of Operations Research, the Prix Gay-Lussac/Humboldt of the French Government, the Georg-Cantor medal of the German Mathematical Society, and a honorary degree of the University Paris-Dauphine. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and a member of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, and the Academia Europaea.

Jean-Luc Bredas received his B.Sc. (1976) and Ph.D. (1979) degrees from the University of Namur, Belgium. In 1988, he was appointed Professor at the University of Mons, Belgium, where he established the Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials. While keeping an Extraordinary Professorship appointment in Mons, he joined the University of Arizona in 1999 before moving in 2003 to the Georgia Institute of Technology. At Georgia Tech, he was Regents’ Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and held the Vasser-Woolley and Georgia Research Alliance Chair in Molecular Design. Between 2011 and 2014, he was also Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah. Since July 2014, he is Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and the Rawabi Holding Research Chair in Solar Energy Science and Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. He also serves as Director of the KAUST Solar and Photovoltaic Engineering Research Center.

Jean-Luc Bredas is a Member of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science and the European Academy of Sciences and an Associate Member of the Royal Academy of Belgium. He is the recipient of the 1997 Francqui Prize, the 2000 Quinquennial Prize of the Belgian National Science Foundation, the 2001 Italgas Prize, the 2003 Descartes Prize of the European Union, the 2010 Charles H. Stone Award of the American Chemical Society, and the 2013 David Adler Award in Materials Physics of the American Physical Society. He is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society, American Physical Society, Optical Society of America, Royal Society of Chemistry, and Materials Research Society. He is an Honorary Professor of the Institute of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and holds Honorary degrees from Linköping University, Sweden, and Université Libre de Bruxelles. Since 2008, he serves as Editor for “Chemistry of Materials”, published by the American Chemical Society. Research in the Bredas group focuses on computational materials chemistry: computational methods are used as a tool to uncover the properties of novel advanced materials, understand their chemistry and physics, and derive an integrated understanding of the intrinsic molecular- and nano-scale processes in a variety of emerging applications (such as solar cells or low-power displays), especially in the fields of organic electronics, photonics, and information technology.

Professor Martin CarrierUniversity of Bielefeld (Germany)

Martin Carrier received his Ph.D. in philosophy of science at the University of Münster in 1984 and got his habilitation at the University of Konstanz in 1989. Since 1998, he is professor of philosophy at Bielefeld University and director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies of Science (I2SoS). His chief area of work is the philosophy of science, in particular, historical changes in science and scientific method, theory-ladenness and empirical testability, intertheoretic relations and reductionism, and presently the methodology of applied research. He is a member of various German national academies (Leopoldina, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Science, Mainz Academy of Sciences, Humanities and Literature). He was co-director of a research group on “science in the context of application” at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) at Bielefeld University 2006/07 and was awarded the Leibniz Prize of the German Research Association (DFG) for 2008. His book publications include Mind, Brain, Behavior. The Mind-Body Problem and the Philosophy of Psychology, New York: de Gruyter, 1991 (co-authored with Jürgen Mittelstrass); The Completeness of Scientific Theories. On the Derivation of Empirical Indicators within a Theoretical Framework, Dord­recht: Kluwer, 1994; Nikolaus Kopernikus, Munich: Beck, 2001; Wissenschafts­theorie: Zur Einführung (Introduction to the Philosophy of Science), Hamburg: Junius, 2006, rev. 2008; Raum-Zeit (Space-Time), Berlin: de Gruyter, 2009.

Professor Chuanzeng ZhangUniversity of Siegen (Germany)

Dr. Chuanzeng Zhang is Professor and Chair of Structural Mechanics at the Department of Civil Engineering, School of Science and Technology, University of Siegen, Germany. He received his Diploma in 1983 and his PhD in 1986 at the Technical University Darmstadt, Germany. From 1986 to 1988, he was Postdoctoral Fellow with Professor Jan D. Achenbach at the Department of Civil Engineering, Northwestern University, USA. Before his appointment at the University of Siegen in 2004, he was Associate Professor and Professor at the Tongji University, Shanghai, China, and Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz, Germany. His research interests include computational mechanics, structural mechanics, fracture and damage mechanics, mechanics of functionally graded materials and smart materials, wave propagation and elastodynamics. He has over 600 publications in referred scientific journals and conference proceedings. He is the Co-Chief Editor of the Book Series “Advances in Materials and Mechanics” (Higher Education Press, China), Editorial Member of the Book Series “Computational and Experimental Methods in Structures” (Word Scientific & Imperial College Press), Editorial Member of the scientific journals “International Journal of Computational Methods”, “Structural Durability & Health Monitoring”, “Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences” (2004-2007), “Electronic Journal for Boundary Elements”, “Mathematical Methods and Physicomechanical Fields”, “Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements”, Managing Guest Editor of “Engineering Fracture Mechanics” (2009-2010), Guest Editor of “Advances in Mechanical Engineering” (since 2013) and “Chinese Quarterly of Mechanics” (since 2014). He is the Vice-President of the “International Chinese Association for Computational Mechanics“, Adjunct Professor of Tongji-University (Shanghai, China) and Harbin Engineering University (Harbin, China), Guest Professor of Harbin Institute of Technology (Harbin, China), Fellow of Wessex Institute of Technology (UK), Distinguished Visiting Professor (2011-2012) at the Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Macau (China), Visiting Professor of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (Nanjing, China), and Visiting Professor of China Building Materials Academy (Beijing, China).

Professor Ulrike DieboldUniversity of Vienna (Austria)

Ulrike Diebold received her PhD degree in 1990 from the University of Technology in Vienna, Austria. After working as a post-doc with Prof. Ted Madey at Rutgers University in New Jersey, she joined the faculty at Tulane University, New Orleans, U.S.A. In 2010 she returned to her alma mater, where she currently holds a full professorship at the Institute of Applied Physics. Diebold conducts research in experimental surface science with an emphasis on metal oxide surfaces. She has published more than 180 peer-reviewed articles, and given over 200 invited talks. Her articles have been cited more than 11,000 times. She serves on several editorial and other advisory boards and is currently a divisional associate editor of the journal Physical Review Letters. She has been elected Fellow of AVS, APS, and AAAS, and is a recipient of several international awards, most recently an Advanced Research Grant from the European Research Council, the Adamson Award of the Amercian Chemical Society, and the Wittgenstein Prize, the highest science award in Austria.

Professor João RochaUniversity of Aveiro (Portugal)

João Rocha (born 1962) is a member of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences (created in 1779 and restricted to 13 Chemists) and Director of the University of Aveiro Institute of Materials (CICECO, ca. 400 people), the largest Materials Science Institute in Portugal. He got his Ph.D. in 1990 from the Department of Chemistry, Cambridge University, UK, working on solid-state NMR of clay materials, under the supervision of J. Klinowski. This was followed by a one year post-doc in the same group working on solid-state NMR of zeolite-type materials. In 1999 he became Full Professor of Inorganic and Materials Chemistry at University of Aveiro. He was Invited Professor at Oviedo University, Spain, in 2010.

He has published over 430 SCI papers (h-index 49) with 10000citations, and 3 patent applications. He has given over one hundred talks at conferences, supervised 30 post-docs and 20 Ph.D. students, coordinated over two dozen projects (6 European) and organized many national and international scientific events. In 2004 he received the Portuguese National Science Foundation prize for Scientific Excellence.

He is a member of the Portuguese Science and Technology Council (advising the Prime Minister). He chairs the ‘Commission on Inorganic and Mineral Structures’ and is consultant for the ‘Commission on NMR Crystallography and Related Methods’ of the International Union of Crystallography, member of the editorial boards of Chemistry – a European Journal, ‘Solid State NMR’, and is Royal Society of Chemistry Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Book Series Editor; he was chairman of the ‘European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry’. He has been a member of assessment committees all over Europe, including the European Research Council Advanced and Starting Grants, and IBM prize Portugal. He is a member of the Portuguese and American Chemical Societies and Materials Research Society.

Professor Paolo Samori Université de Strasbourg (France)

Paolo Samorì (Imola, Italy, 1971) is Distinguished Professor (PRCE) and director of the Institut de Science et d′Ingénierie Supramoléculaires (ISIS) of the Université de Strasbourg (UdS) where he is also head of the Nanochemistry Laboratory. He is also Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) and junior member of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF).

He obtained a Laurea (master’s degree) in Industrial Chemistry at University of Bologna in 1995. In 2000 he received his PhD in Chemistry from the Humboldt University of Berlin (Prof. J. P. Rabe). He was permanent research scientist at Istituto per la Sintesi Organica e la Fotoreattività of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche of Bologna from 2001 until 2008.

He has focused his research activity during his Ph.D and Post Doc on scanning probe microscopy studies of self-assembled structures. As soon as he started his independent lab he has exploited these tools beyond imaging to gain a quantitative insight into various physico-chemical properties of nanostructures. His research interest has then expanded to the bottom-up development of switchable surfaces and interfaces, to the multiscale study of electronic properties of supramolecularly engineered materials, to graphene chemistry and to the fabrication of supramolecular devices. He has pioneered the realization of optically switchable field-effect transistors which combine photochromic systems with (macro)molecular semiconductors.

The current theme of his research is the unravelling the architecture vs. function relationship in graphene- and molecule-based supramolecular materials for applications in materials science and (opto)electronics, and ultimately for the fabrication of multifunctional devices.

His work has been awarded various prizes, including the young scientist awards at EMRS (1998) and MRS (2000) as well as the IUPAC Prize for Young Chemists 2001, the "Vincenzo Caglioti" award 2006 granted by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, the "Nicolò Copernico" award 2009 (Italy) for his discoveries in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology, the prix "Guy Ourisson" 2010 of the Cercle Gutenberg (France), the ERC Starting Grant 2010 and the CNRS Silver Medal 2012.

He is member of the advisory boards of Advanced Materials, Small, ChemPhysChem and ChemPlusChem (Wiley-VCH), Chemical Society Reviews, Chemical Communications, Journal of Materials Chemistry and Nanoscale (RSC).

Professor Paul Tréguer Université de Bretagne Occidentale (France)

Paul J. Tréguer graduated at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Rennes and at the Institut d’Administration des Entreprises de Rennes, became Emeritus Professor at Université de Bretagne Occidentale.

He managed research teams in chemical oceanography and biogeochemistry. He became a marine biogeochemist, expert in nutrient cycles in various marine ecosystems, with a focus on the silica cycle and on the Southern Ocean since the 1980s. He has been member or chair of numerous scientific committees at national and international level.

Paul J. Tréguer founded the Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer (IUEM) and the Europole Mer in 2004.

He is a member of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) and of the International Association of Sedimentologists (IAS).

In 2006, he received the El Sayed Award for contribution to Millenium Assessment, and the Georges Millot Medal in 2013.

Patrice Debré graduated from Harvard Medical School is a Professor and specialist in immunology at the University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris), since 1981.

He was Director of a section at the CNRS from 1982 to 1996, and at the INSERM from 1996 to 2008.

His researches led to the development of an AIDS vaccine, still in clinical trials. To these activities, he also served in International and European Organizations concerned by the pandemics. He was appointed Ambassador for the fight against AIDS and transmissible diseases.

He is the author of 350 scientific publications and 6 books. He is member of the French National Academy of Medicine, and numerous other French and American societies.

Professor Manuel G. Velarde Universidad Complutense of Madrid (Spain)

Manuel Garcia VELARDE, was born on September 7th, 1941 in Almeria (Spain). In 1963 he graduated in Physics at Universidad Complutense of Madrid (UCM, Spain). He obtained the Ph. D. in Physics from UCM in November 1968 and from ULB in January 1970. Later on he has been awarded the Honoray Doctorate from the Universite de Provence-Aix-Marseille (France) in 1994 and from the Saratov State University (Russia) in 2010. His research with a dominant line being fluid physics and, in particular, interfacial phenomena at large, covers a wide spectrum of phenomena, problems and sub-disciplines, with an inter-, trans-, and pluri-disciplinary approach (from Physics, including geophysics–waves in the atmosphere, the sea and straights-, waves in nonlinearly elastic solids, laser dynamics, reaction-diffusion systems, lattice dynamics in active media, quantum electron transport, ... to neurodynamics and model-brains for robots; for a complete list of publication and full cv see web site www.ucm.es/info/fluidos). Noteworthy are six research frontier monographs, five of which dealing with fluid physics and one with lattice dynamics: 2001-Nonlinear Dynamics of Surface Tension-Driven Instabilities, Wiley-VCH, N. Y. (with P. Colinet & J. Cl. Legros); 2002-Synergetic Phenomena in Active Lattices, Springer-Verlag, Berlin (with V. I. Nekorkin); 2002-Interfacial Phenomena and Convection, Chapman & Hall, Boca Raton (with A. A. Nepomnyashchy & P. Colinet); 2003-Liquid Interfacial Systems. Oscillations and Instability, M. Dekker, N.Y. (with R. V. Birikh, V. A. Briskman & J. Cl. Legros); 2007-Wetting and Spreading Dynamics, Taylor & Francis/CRC, N.Y. (with V. M. Starov & C. Radke); 2012-Falling Liquid Films, Springer-Verlag, London (with S. Kalliadasis, C. Ruyer-Quil & B. Scheid).

In 2002 he was elected Rector of the International Center for Mechanical Sciences (CISM, Udine, Italy). Since 2005 he is Honorary Rector. He has been invited research scientist or invited professor at CEN-Saclay, Paris [VI, XI], Marne-La-Vallée, Grenoble, Marseille [I, II, III], Pescara, Los Alamos National Laboratory, NTH-Trondheim, Cambridge U., Chelsea College, Imperial College, Stanford U., UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, Academia Sinica-Beijing, HUST-Wuhan, ECNU-Shanghai, etc. He has served the international community and the profession in committees like "Liquids" (EPS); MAC-ESA; Statistical Physics (IUPAP); Chaos, Order and Patterns: Aspects of Nonlinearity (NATO); ELGRA, President; LABEX Jury (France, President), etc. He was elected to membership in 1993 with Academia Europæa. In 1996 he received the RAMMAL Medal of the Societe Française de Physique. In 2003 he was awarded the DuPont Science prize. In 2013 he was awarded the Ordre National du Merite (OM) by the President of France.

In 2002, to celebrate his 60th birthday, Prof. Nicolis coordinated a special Issue of the International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos 12 (2002) 2305-2653 with the theme “Spatio-Temporal Complexity”. In 2011, to celebrate his 70th birth ay a “Week of Science” was organized at IP-UCM where many of his former collaborators and friends, from quite many countries, delivered contributions covering a vast domain of Science, not just Physics. As a follow-up in 2013 appeared a book with the tittle “Without Bounds: A Scientific Canvas of Nonlinearity and Complex Dynamics”, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 801 pp., edited by former and present collaborators. Then, also celebrating his 70th birthday, in 2014 appeared vol. 206, 428 pp., of Advances in Colloid and Interface Science edited by R. Miller, V. M. Starov and R. G. Rubio.

Professor Dragan Savic University of Exeter (UK)

Dragan Savic is the UK’s first Professor of Hydroinformatics having held this post at the University of Exeter since 2001. He specialised in water and environmental systems for his undergraduate, MSc and PhD degrees.

His work has concentrated on the theoretical development and application of Artificial Intelligence methods that have been applied to many fields of environmental science. For example, a significant advance has been made in the development of a general methodology for modelling and optimisation of water supply and wastewater systems. He has also pioneered a new, superfast flood modelling methodology based on Cellular Automata that allows flood risk assessment to be carried out on a continental scale. Prof. Savic has published over 400 research/professional papers and reports, co-authored 24 books and book chapters and holds two patents. With over 7,000 citations to his name (source: Google Scholar), Prof. Savić is among the top 10 most cited scholars in the world in the areas of ‘water resources’ and ‘hydroinformatics’:

Peter Hänggi is known for many ground-breaking contributions in the area of statistical physics and driven quantum mechanics which he achieved at the Polytechnic Institute of New York and the University of Augsburg. He is worldwide known for his seminal contributions to reaction rate theory, driven quantum mechanics and quantum dissipation. Main discoveries of his include the detailed description of phenomenon of Stochastic Resonance, his discovery of coherent destruction of tunnelling and his initiation of the field of Brownian motors. He has been awarded with 8 doctors honoris causa and holds a honorary professorship at the Beijing Normal University. Among his many international prizes and awards are the RIKEN eminent scientist award, the Smoluchowski medal of the Jagellonian University in Krakow, the Chair of Physics Elena Aizen de Moshinsky from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the prestigious Lindhard Lecture award 2010, and alike, the Lars Onsager medal 2011 and The Lars Onsager Lecture 2011.

He is an elected member of the National Academy for Sciences Leopoldina and the Academy Europaea, and as well, an elected member of the Max-Planck society and external member of the MPI-PKS in Dresden, Germany. Furthermore, he is selected for ISIHighlyCited.com due to his exceptional citation count in the field of Physics and elected as outstanding referee of the APS.

María Rocío Álvarez-López received the Degree (1969) and PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences (1981) from the Granada University (Spain). She also performed a postdoctoral training in the HLA and transplantation domains at the St. Louis Hôpital, in Paris (France, 1982-84), under the direction of Prof. Jean Dausset and Dr. Marilyne Saportes improving the generation and characterization of T suppressor cells and suppressive factors of the allogenic response. Then in Murcia (Spain), she developed the Transplantation Immunology Program and organized the Inmunology Service in the University Hospital “Virgen de la Arrixaca”. Within research activities, she also started the Immunotolerance Study Group on liver transplantation, analyzing the impact of HLA genes and molecules as well as this of costimulatory molecules (CD28/CD80 and Th1 or Th2 cytokines to predict the short term liver graft acceptance or rejection. Additionally, she also introduced the analysis of the study of the innate immunity role in transplantation, mainly in relation to the NK/KIR gene receptors and their HLA-ligands matching or mismatching in liver transplantation and liver pathologies. More recently she extended her research program to other pathologies involving autoimmune reactions (psoriasis or arthritis, etc) or a reduced immunologic response, such as melanoma, bladder o or breast cancers or virus C hepatitis infection.

Professor Flemming Besenbacher Aarhus University (Denmark)

Flemming Besenbacher is Professor at Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), Aarhus University (Denmark) and Chair of the board of the Carlsberg Foundation. From 2002 to 2012, he was the Director of Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO) and the Director of the iNANO graduate school, iNANO School.

His main research fields are nanosciences and nanotechnology and his current research activities include the development and use of scanning tunneling microscopy, atomic-force microscopy.

He received various research awards among them The Danish Physical Society’s Research Prize (1995), and the Aarhus Business Award (2009). In 2009, he was the recipient of the prestigious Einstein Professorship, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences before being elected Honorary Fellow of Chinese Chemical Society.

His memberships are numerous; we could name among them the Danish Academy of Natural Sciences and the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences, the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, and the American Physical Society.

He is the author of 20 book chapters and reviews and his published articles have been cited more than 20.000 times.

Emmanuel Cabanis is Professor at University Pierre and Marie Curie (Paris) and a Corresponding Member of the French National Academy of Medicine in Biological Sciences. He is also an expert at the "Cour de Cassation" (Supreme Court). He was elected Honorary Member of the "Collège Médical Français des Professeurs d′Anatomie" and President-elected (until 2003) of the "Compagnie des Experts Médecins" of the Court of Appeal of Paris.

His major research fields are focused on ophtalmology and visual neurosciences. In 1973, he founded the Radiology Service at the National Center of Ophtalmology.

He received the Medical Society of London Award in 1984. Two years later, he received the « Pre-Market Approval », from the FDA, NIH and Federal Government of the United States for the importation of the 1st French MRI.

He is the author of numerous publications, and co-author of books. He published 64 scientific and administrative reports.

Professor José Peña University of Cordova (Spain)

J. Peña performs his doctoral thesis on immunology of pregnancy in Granada (Spain) and develops a post-doctoral period in Medial College (London Hospital - 1973-75- ) under the direction of Prof. H. Festenstein. Then he describes described the presence of HLA- II molecules on macrophages as prelude of antigen presentation function, latter attributed to these cells. Later, in Spain, he studied the modulatory effect of gamma interferon on the HLA molecules expression in cancer cells and its significance in tumor inmmunosurviance phenomenon. Also he studied the involvement of CD43 molecule in the pathogenesis of Wiscott Aldrich, demonstrating that a glycosylation default of this molecule is related to the pathogenesis of this disease.

He has also developed studies about the biology and clinical implications of NK cells, mainly in HIV1 seropositive individuals. More recently J. Peña has contributed to the development of a new therapeutic phase II vaccine against HIV-1 of great importance for the 35 million of patients who are actually infected by HIV-1 and a source of knowledge for a preventive vaccine, impossible so far. Finally he has been shown, in collaboration with Dr. A Rivero, that the presence of KIR-3DS1 gene is a positive predictor of therapeutic efficacy for clearance of HCV virus in patients HCV/HIV treated with Peg-IFN/RB, which is of great clinical importance at the time.

J. Peña is the author of 3 books on immunology, several book chapters, and more than 400 articles in peer-review journals. He was the Rector of the University of Cordoba (Spain), member of several Spanish, British, European, American professional societies, and member of the Real Academia de Medicina y Cirugia of Spain.

Professor Tommaso CalarcoUniversity of Ulm (Germany)

Tommaso Calarco was born in 1969 in Rovereto, Italy. He received his M.Sc in Physics at the University of Padua in 1994, and his Ph.D (excellent) at the University of Ferrara in 1998, with a thesis focused on polarized structure functions of the nucleon in a quark model. He obtained his first postdoc position in the group of Peter Zoller at the University of Innsbruck, where he started working in quantum information.

After the period in Innsbruck, he obtained a postdoc position at the ECT* Centre in Trento and later again in Innsbruck. He spent extended research stays with C. Williams and P. Julienne at NIST in 2002-2003 and with M. Lukin at Harvard in 2005-2007. In 2004 he was appointed as a tenure-track Senior Researcher at the BEC Centre in Trento, and finally as a Professor for Physics at the University of Ulm in 2007 (with tenure since 2009).

He is the author of more than 100 publications in refereed journals and participated to more than a 100 invited talks. He has pioneered the application of quantum optimal control methods to quantum computation and to many-body quantum system, which constitute the main expertise of his group, whose lines of research currently focus on ion crystals, ion transport, NV centres, optical lattices, quantum phase transitions, Rydberg atoms and, more recently, quantum open systems.

He has been awarded two EC Marie-Curie Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship and the E. Wallnöfer Prize of the Tyrolean Industrialists’ Association.

He is currently the coordinator of the EC QIPC Roadmap, of the Integrated Project SIQS and the chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the ERA-Net CHISTERA, as well as the Director of the Center for Integrated Quantum Science and Technology (IQST) of the universities of Ulm and Stuttgart.

He is active in promoting of Quantum Technologies, with a special focus on European Union institutions.

Andreas A. Danopoulos was born in Athens, Greece. He received B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Athens, Greece, and Ph. D. from the University of Athens, Greece, in the field of coordination chemistry and homogeneous catalysis.

After a postdoctoral work with Peter G. Edwards at University College, Cardiff, UK, and research fellowships with Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson at Imperial College, London, UK and Malcolm L. H. Green at the University of Oxford, UK, he held academic position at the University of Southampton, UK.

Currently he is based at the Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination, at the University of Strasbourg, France, as a Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study. He was Chercheur associé CNRS between 2010-2013, visiting Professor at the University of Strasbourg and recipient of a Chair of Excellence Gutenberg (at the University of Strasbourg).

His research interests are in the areas of organometallic and coordination chemistry and homogeneous catalysis. He has made significant contributions in the areas of high oxidation state metal complexes, ligand design, the chemistry of N-heterocyclic carbenes and their complexes and catalytic applications in polymerisation, oligomerisation of olefins, cross-couplings etc.

Professor Azzedine BousseksouCNRS, France

Professor Azzedine Bousseksou received his Ph.D. in Materials Science from the University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris 6, France) in 1992. In 1993 he was appointed to a permanent position at the CNRS Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination (Toulouse, France). He was promoted in 2005 to research Director at the CNRS and in 2011 to first class Senior Research Director at the CNRS. He presently leads the group "Switchable Molecular Materials" at the Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination of the CNRS in Toulouse (22 members, including 5 permanent staff). He is also presently the head of the Laboratory (~290 researchers including students and post-docs).

He is expert of molecular magnetism and switchable molecular materials. He is member of the scientific board of the European Network of Excellence on Molecular Magnetism (Magmanet).

He is the author of more than 200 publications, and 4 book chapters. In 2003, he received the Award of the Coordination Chemistry Division of the French Chemical Society, he received the Langevin Award of the French Academy of Science in 2009, the silver medal of the CNRS in 2010, the prize for Research in 2011 and the Award of the Korean Society of Magnetism in 2012. He coordinates 7 national projects.

Professor Karl LeoTechnische Universität Dresden, Germany

Karl Leo obtained the Diplomphysiker degree from the University of Freiburg in 1985, working with Adolf Goetzberger at the Fraunhofer-Institut für Solare Energiesysteme on defects in Silicon solar cells using metallurgically produced material.

In 1988, he obtained the PhD degree from the University of Stuttgart for a PhD thesis performed at the Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung in Stuttgart under supervision of Hans Queisser. The topic was the dynamics of hot electron and hole cooling in semiconductor quantum structures.

From 1989 to 1991, he was postdoc at AT&T Bell Laboratories in Holmdel, NJ, U.S.A. His work addressed coherent effects in III-V semiconductor heterostructures. He demonstrated for the first time coherent electronic wave packet oscillations in a semiconductor double quantum well.

From 1991 to 1993, he was with the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) in Aachen, Germany, continuing his work on coherent effects in III-V semiconductors. The work focussed on Bloch oscillations in semiconductors, showing this novel coherent solid state effect in semiconductor superlattices.

Since 1993, he is full professor of optoelectronics at the Technische Universität Dresden. From 2002 until 2013, he has been also working at the Fraunhofer-Institution for Organics, Materials and Electronic Devices COMEDD. Initially, he continue work on III-V semiconductors. However, his main interests in Dresden have been novel semiconductor systems like semiconducting organic thin films; with special emphasis to understand basics device principles and the optical response. This work led to organic light emitting diodes (OLED) and organic solar cells with record efficiencies.

Currently, he is visiting professor at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi-Arabia.

His work was recognized by the following awards: Otto-Hahn-Medaille (1989), Bennigsen-Förder-Preis (1991), Leibniz-Award (2002), award of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy (2002), Manfred-von-Ardenne-Preis (2006), Zukunftspreis of the German president (2011), Rudolf-Jäckel-Prize (2012), Dr. techn. h.c. of the University of Southern Denmark (2013), and fellow of the Hector foundation (2014).

Additionally, he has been very active in technology transfer: He is cofounder of several successful start-up companies, including Novaled AG (aquired in 2013 by Samsung) and Heliatek GmbH.

Federico Rosei was born in Rome (Italy) on the 27th of March, 1972. He grew up mostly in Italy, between Rome, Cosenza, Trieste, Padova and then again Rome. He received an International Baccalaureate Diploma from the United World College of the Adriatic in 1990. He then pursued studies in Physics, graduating with a Laurea (MSc) degree (29.02.1996) and a PhD (15.02.2001) from the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. He served in the military as an officer of the Italian Navy from October 1996 until December 1997. He then worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the Centre for Atomic Scale Materials Physics (CAMP) at the University of Aarhus (Denmark) from November 2000 to April 2002.

He joined the Centre Énergie, Matériaux et Télécommunications (EMT) of Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS), Université du Québec in May 2002 as Assistant Professor. He was promoted to Associate Professor (with tenure) in June 2004 and subsequently to Full Professor in 2009. Since June 2011 he serves as Director of the EMT Centre.

He has held the Canada Research Chair in Nanostructured Organic and Inorganic Materials since 2003.

Since January 2014 he holds the UNESCO Chair in Materials and Technologies for Energy Conversion, Saving and Storage (MATECSS). MATECSS is designed to foster North-South collaboration and has partners in Algeria, China, Costa Rica, India, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa and Vietnam.

Dr. Rosei’s research interests focus on the properties of nanostructured materials, and on how to control their size, shape, composition, stability and positioning when grown on suitable substrates. He has extensive experience in fabricating, processing and characterizing inorganic, organic and biocompatible nanomaterials. His core expertise emphasizes structure/property relationships in advanced materials, particularly with respect to surfaces and interfaces and how these affect the properties of nanoscale materials.

He has published over 170 articles in prestigious international journals (including Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Advanced Materials, Angewandte Chemie Int. Ed., Journal of the American Chemical Society, Advanced Functional Materials, Nanoletters, ACS Nano, Biomaterials, Small, Physical Review Letters, Chemical Communications, AppliedPhysics Letters, Physical Review B, Nanoscale, etc.), has been invited to speak at over 160 international conferences and has given over 150 seminars and colloquia and 20 public lectures in 40 countries on all inhabited continents. His publications have been cited over 4400 times and his H index is 38.

He serves on the editorial board of several international journals and has been Editor of Applied Surface Science (Elsevier) since January 2012.

Prof. Rosei has trained over 100 young scientists at all levels (undergraduate summer students, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, visiting scientists and research associates) since 2002. Nine of his former trainees are in faculty positions in Australia, Austria, Canada and France. Six of his former trainees work as staff scientists in national laboratories in Canada, France, Germany and Italy. More than half of his current and past trainees have obtained competitive fellowships and awards from NSERC, FRQNT, European Commission (Marie Curie), Alexander von Humboldt, Vanier, Banting etc.

He is Member of the European Academy of Sciences since 2014, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science since 2013, Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) since 2012, Fellow of the Institute of Physics since 2010, Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology since 2011, Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Metallurgy and Mining since 2011, Fellow of the Institute of Nanotechnology since 2010, Senior Member of the IEEE since 2012, Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada since 2013, Member of the Global Young Academy since 2013, Fellow of the Australian Institute of Physics since 2013, Senior Member of SPIE since 2013 and Member of the Sigma Xi Society since 2010.

He has received numerous awards, including the FQRNT Strategic Professorship (2002–2007), the Tan Chin Tuan visiting Fellowship (NTU 2008), the Senior Gledden Visiting Fellowship (UWA 2009), Professor at Large at UWA (2010–2012), a Marie Curie Post-Doctoral Fellowship from the European Union (2001), a Canada Research Chair since 2003 (renewed in 2008 for a second five year term) a Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Award from the Alexander von Humboldt foundation (2011), the Rutherford Memorial Medal in Chemistry from the Royal Society of Canada (2011), the Herzberg Medal from the Canadian Association of Physics (2013), the Brian Ives lectureship award from ASM international / Canada Council (2013), the Award for Excellence in Materials Chemistry from the Canadian Society for Chemistry (2014) and the EWR Steacie Memorial Fellowship from NSERC (2014).

Professor David AwschalomUniversity of Chicago, United States of America

David Awschalom is the Liew Family Professor of Spintronics and Quantum Information in the Institute for Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago. He is a physicist in the fields of spintronics and quantum information engineering who performs experiments that explore photonics, electronics and semiconductor-based quantum information processing at the nanometer scale. His group has research activities in fundamental optical and magnetic interactions in semiconductor quantum structures, spin dynamics and coherence in condensed matter systems, macroscopic quantum phenomena in nanometer-scale magnets, and implementations of quantum information processing in the solid state. They have developed a variety of femtosecond-resolved spatiotemporal spectroscopies and micromagnetic sensing techniques aimed at exploring charge and spin motion in the quantum domain. His work focuses on understanding and manipulating the spin of electrons and nuclei for advanced computing, medical imaging, encryption and other technologies.

Professor Thomas EbbesenUniversity of Strasbourg, France

Thomas Ebbesen received his bachelors from Oberlin College, and a PhD from Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris in the field of photo-physical chemistry. He then worked at the Notre Dame Radiation Laboratory before joining the NEC Fundamental Research Laboratories in Japan in 1988 where his research shifted first to novel carbon materials such as fullerenes (C60), graphene and carbon nanotubes. After discovering how to mass produce carbon nanotubes, he and his colleagues measured many of their unique features such as their mechanical and wetting properties. For his pioneering and extensive contribution to the field of carbon nanotubes, he shared the 2001 Agilent Europhysics Prize with Sumio Iijima, Cees Dekker and Paul McEuen.

While working at NEC, Ebbesen discovered a major new optical phenomenon. He found that, contrary to the then accepted theory, it was possible to transmit light extremely efficiently through subwavelength holes milled in opaque metal films under certain conditions. The phenomenon, known as extraordinary optical transmission, involves surface plasmons. It has raised fundamental questions and is finding applications in broad variety of areas from chemistry to opto-electronics. Ebbesen has received several awards for the discovery of the extraordinary optical transmission such as the 2005 France Telecom Prize of the French Academy of Sciences and the 2009 Quantum Electronics and Optics Prize of the European Physical Society.

His current research is focused on the physics and chemistry of light-matter interactions at the nanoscale.

In 1999, Thomas Ebbesen joined ISIS founded by Jean-Marie Lehn at the University of Strasbourg, which he headed from 2004 to 2012. He is the director of the International Center for Frontier Research in Chemistry. and the University of Strasbourg Institute for Advanced Study.He is a member of the Institut Universitaire de France, the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, the French Academy of Science and the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Sciences and the Arts.

Professor Tom KibbleImperial College London, London, United Kingdom

Tom Kibble (full name Thomas Walter Bannerman Kibble) was born in 1932 in Madras, India (now Chennai). He was educated at Doveton Corrie School in Madras, Melville College in Edinburgh and Edinburgh University, where he studied mathematics and physics. He obtained his PhD in Mathematical Physics in 1958, working on topics in quantum field theory under the supervision of John Polkinghorne. He then spent a year as a Commonwealth Fund Fellow at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California. He came to Imperial College London as a NATO Fellow in 1959, joining the group in the Mathematics Department that had been founded three years earlier by Professor Abdus Salam. The group moved to the Physics Department the following year. He has been at Imperial College ever since, except for a year at the University of Rochester, Rochester, New York (1967-68) and shorter visiting appointments at Santa Barbara, at Tufts University and as Lorentz Professor in Leiden. He is now Distinguished Research Fellow and Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Physics.

Kibble was appointed a lecturer in 1960 and promoted to Professor in 1970. He was Head of the Physics Department from 1983 to 1991. His work has been mainly on quantum field theory and cosmology, especially problems of spontaneous symmetry breaking and the formation of topological defects such as cosmic strings in the early universe or analogues in laboratory systems. In 1964, together with Gerald Guralnik and Carl Richard Hagen he wrote an influential paper ‘Global conservation laws and massless particles’ on what has come to be known as the Higgs mechanism, an essential feature of the standard model of particle physics. This was one of three papers on the subject by different authors to appear in Physical Review Letters in that year. He followed this up with a more detailed study of the application to non-Abelian gauge theories in 1967. Prior to that he had worked on the possibility of regarding gravity as a gauge theory, developing a formalism that has been widely used.

Another major strand of Kibble’s work began with a 1976 paper ‘Topology of cosmic domains and strings’ published in the Journal of Physics A. This paper discussed the possible formation of cosmic strings and other topological defects at phase transitions in the very early history of the universe. He followed this up with many later studies of the implications of cosmic string formation. Although no observational evidence has yet been found for such structures, this remains an active area of research, in which interest has revived since it was discovered that very similar objects would be predicted by many cosmological scenarios based on fundamental string theory.

This work has also had significant impact in condensed matter physics, where many analogous topological defects are found. Methods used initially to estimate the number density of defects formed during cosmological phase transitions, based on causality limits, have been adapted, especially by Wojciech Zurek, to make predictions for rapid phase transitions in condensed matter systems. This is now known as the Kibble-Zurek mechanism. The predictions have been experimentally verified in system ranging from superfluid helium-3 to atomic Bose-Einstein condensates.

Other topics on which Kibble has published include the interaction of intense laser beams with electrons and the geometrization of quantum mechanics.

Kibble was elected to Fellowship of the Royal Society in 1980, received the Royal Society′s Hughes medal (jointly with Peter Higgs) in 1981 and the Royal Medal in 2012, and was appointed CBE in 1998. Among other awards, he received the NESTA/Nature Lifetime Achievement Mentoring Award in 2005, the Fellowship of Imperial College in 2009 and (jointly with 5 others) the J.J. Sakurai Prize of the American Physical Society in 2010.

Outside physics, Kibble has had a long-standing interest in the interactions of science and society. He was chair of the British Society for Social Responsibility in Science from 1974 to 1977, and of Scientists Against Nuclear Arms from 1985 to 1991. Kibble was for many years a keen cyclist, commuting daily by bicycle, but now his principal recreation is walking, including leading rambles for the local branch of the Ramblers’ Association. He also enjoys gardening. He was married to Anne Allan from 1957 until her death in 2005. He has three children and seven grandchildren.

Peter Fulde was born in 1936 in Breslau (now Wroclaw) and grew up in East Germany. He studied at the Humboldt University in Berlin and subsequently in Göttingen and Hamburg. 1963 he obtained his PhD at the University of Maryland where R.A. Ferrell was his advisor. After spending a postdoctoral year at Maryland and in Berkeley with M. Tinkham he returned 1965 to Germany where from 1967-1971 he was in charge of the theory group of the Institute Max von Laue-Paul Langevin in Garching near Munich. From 1968-71 he held a chair in physics at the University of Frankfurt/M. From 1974-1993 he was a director at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart before he became the founding director of the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden in 1993. He stayed there until 2007. Since then he is president of the Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics in Pohang, Korea. He is an Adjunct Professor at the TU Darmstadt (since 1973) and at the TU Dresden (since 1995) and a Distinguished Professor of Physics at POSTECH (since 2007). His research fields are condensed matter physics and quantum chemistry.

Professor Athene Donald,University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

I have been at the Cavendish since 1983, and became a professor in 1998. My activity sits within the sector of Biological and Soft Systems, and focusses on using the ideas of soft matter physics to study a wide range of systems of both synthetic and biological origin. There is an emphasis on using different types of microscopy, and in particular environmental scanning electron microscopy, but these are by no means the only approaches used. We have recently been developing passive microrheological techniques for the study of a range of complex fluids, including the inside of cells; we are exploring cell adhesion, mitosis and spreading using optical approaches (including the effect of external physical cues such as topographical patterns); and we have a substantial effort directed at protein aggregation at intermediate lengthscales, predominantly using model protein systems including beta lactoglobulin and insulin but extending to A beta. The unifying theme is understanding structure-function-processing relationships. My group comes from a diverse range of backgrounds, as does my funding.

Professor Daniel Loss,University of Basel, Switzerland

Daniel Loss received a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics at the University of Zurich in 1985 under the supervision of Prof. A. Thellung. He stayed there as postdoctoral researcher for four more years before moving to the US in 1989. From 1989 to 1991 he worked as postdoctoral researcher in the group of Prof. A. J. Leggett, Urbana, and from 1991 to 1993 at IBM Research Center, NY (USA). In 1993 he moved to Vancouver (Canada) to become Assistant and then Associate Professor of Physics at Simon Fraser University. In 1996 he returned to Switzerland to become full Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Basel. Loss is director of the Basel Center for Quantum Computing and Quantum Coherence (QC2), and co-director (2006) of the Swiss National Center of Competence and Research (NCCR) in Nanoscale Science at the University of Basel. He received several prestigious fellowships, is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, has been awarded the Humboldt Research Prize in 2005, and the Marcel Benoist Prize in 2010 — the most prestigious science prize in Switzerland (see www.marcel-benoist.ch, and Uni news). He is married and has two sons.

Loss′s research interests include many aspects of the theory of condensed matter systems with a particular focus on spin-dependent and phase-coherent phenomena (‘mesoscopics’) in semiconducting nanostructures and molecular magnets. A major portion of Loss′s current research involves the theory of spin dynamics, spin coherence, spintronics in two-dimensional electron gases, and spin-related phenomena in semiconducting quantum dots--artificial atoms and molecules. Part of this work is related to quantum information processing (QIP)--quantum computing and quantum communication in solid state systems with focus on spin qubits, where Loss and collaborators made seminal contributions. Their theoretical predictions and proposals have stimulated many further investigations, and in particular many experimental programs on spin qubits worldwide. Current research includes spin relaxation and decoherence in quantum dots due to spin-orbit and hyperfine interaction; non-Markovian spin dynamics in bosonic and nuclear spin environments; generation and characterization of non-local entanglement with quantum dots, superconductors, Luttinger liquids or Coulomb scattering in interacting 2DEGs; spin currents in magnetic insulators and in semiconductors; spin Hall effect in disordered systems; spin orbit effects in transport and noise; asymmetric quantum shot noise in quantum dots; entanglement transfer from electron spins to photons; QIP with spin qubits in quantum dots and molecular magnets; macroscopic quantum phenomena (spin tunneling and coherence) in molecular and nanoscale magnetism.

Professor John CardyUniversity of Oxford, United Kingdom

John Cardy received his BA (1968) in Mathematics and PhD (1971) in Theoretical Physics from Cambridge University. After postdoctoral studies at CERN, Geneva and the University of California, Santa Barbara, he joined the faculty at Santa Barbara in 1977. In 1993 he moved to Oxford University, where he is a Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College and a Professor of Theoretical Physics. He is also an Honorary Fellow ofDowning College, Cambridge.

His research prior to 1978 was in particle physics, in particular the study of high-energy diffraction scattering. After this, he applied methods of quantum field theory and the renormalization group to condensed matter, especially to critical phenomena in both pure and disordered equilibrium and non-equilibrium systems. In the 1980s he helped develop the theory of conformal invariance and its applications to these problems, ideas which also had an impact in string theory and the physics of black holes.

In the 1990s he used conformal invariance to derive many exact results in percolation and related probabilistic problems. This helped inspire the work of mathematicians which was recognised by the award of the Fields Medal to Wendelin Werner in 2006, and to Stas Smirnov in 2010. More recently Professor Cardy has worked on questions of quantum entanglement and non-equilibrium dynamics in many-body systems.

In 1988, Efstathiou was appointed to the Savilian Chair of Astronomy at Oxford University, where he served as Head of Astrophysics for 6 years during this tenure. He returned to Cambridge in 1997 and continues to hold the position of Professor of Astrophysics (1909). He has served as Director of the Institute of Astronomy from 2004 until 2008 when he was appointed and remains currently as the first Director of the new Kavli Institute for Cosmology at Cambridge.

Efstathiou was first elected In 1980 as a Junior Research Fellowship at King’s Collge, University of Cambridge and in 1984 promoted to Senior Research Fellowship. From 1983 he became a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, in 1994 and 1995 awarded as a member of the Royal Society and Institute of Physics respectively. In 1986 he was invited to be an Associate of the Canadian Institute of Advanced Research and Member of the International Astronomical Union.

Several prizes for Efstathiou’s research have been awarded, in 1990 Efstathiou won the Maxwell Medal and Prize a principal award for outstanding contributions to theoretical physics made annually by the Institute of Physics. At the same time was awarded the Vainu Bappu Prize of the Astronomical Society of India. In 1994 received the Astrophysics Prize of the Bodossaki Foundation, followed by the Robinson Prize in Cosmology in 1997. In 2005 American Institute of Physics awarded Efstathiou along with his collaborator Simon White the Heineman Prize for Astrophysics in recognition of their pioneering research into evolution of structure in the Universe from the earliest times to the present epoch, as examples of outstanding work in the field of astrophysics. Most recently, in 2011, Efstathiou received the Gruber Cosmology Prize from the Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation. This was awarded jointly with Marc Davis, Carlos Frenk and Simon White for their pioneering work on ‘cold dark matter’ and use of numerical simulations to model and interpret the large-scale distribution of matter in the Universe.

Professor Efstathiou has wide interests in theoretical and observational cosmology and has contributed to studies of large-scale structure in the Universe, galaxy formation, dark energy and the cosmic microwave background radiation. He is a member of the Science Team for the European Space AgencyPlanck Satellite, which launched in 2009. Efstathiou is Chair of the Cambridge Planck Analysis Centre, which is developing methods to analyze the data that will be collected by the Planck satellite. The satellite’s two-year mission will be to measure the anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation with unprecedented accuracy.

Professor Michael CoeyTrinity College Dublin, Ireland

Michael Coey was born in 1945 in Belfast. He grew up in varous places – England, Germany, Hong Kong – determined by the postings of his father, a chaplain to the British army. After graduating from Cambridge in 1966, a providential bout of jaundice, contracted while working for a year and a half as a teacher of English and Physics in India, led to a month of enforced bed rest and the leisure to read Physical Principles of Magnetism byhis future PhD supervisor, A. H. Morrish, from cover to cover. When he moved to Winnipeg in 1968 to start research, he began to use the new method of Mössbauer spectroscopy to investigate the properties of disordered magnetic oxides, including nanoparticles of gFe2O3, where he was able to show that the surface spins were misaligned. He has worked on different aspects of magnetism ever since.

In 1971 Michael Coey accepted an offer from Louis Néel, to join Benoy Chakraverty’s newly-formed Groupe des Transitions de Phases at the CNRS in Grenoble. Although his main work there was on electronic phase transitions, he benefitted from the stimulating scientific environment to pursue interests in amorphous magnetism and magnetic order in natural minerals, with the first demonstration of random spin freezing due to frustrated antiferromagnetic interactions. Appointed Attaché de Recherche in the CNRS 1972, he helped to organize the first International Colloquium on Metal-Insulator transitions two years later, where the innovation of a beer- and wine-fueled poster session has proved enduring. A sabbatical at IBM Yorktown Heights crystallized the ideas for his first book, a monograph on Magnetic Glasses, written with Kishin Moorjani, which included a classification of the varieties of magnetic order that occur in amorphous solids.

A move back to Ireland in 1978 to take up a lectureship in Physics at Trinity College, Dublin was a calculated risk. It was no obvious choice for an academic career in magnetism, but it worked out well, thanks to continued close links with colleagues in France, and support from the first European Framework Programmes which offered decent funding for collaborative applied research. He has been based in Trinity College Dublin ever since, holding the Erasmus Smth’s Professorship of Natural and Experimental Philosphy (1724) from 2007 – 2012.

Having set up a melt spinner with a sewing machine motor and an ancient rf furnace to continue to investigate amorphous and nanocrystalline rare-earth transition-metal alloys, Michael Coey was well placed to follow up the discovery in 1982 of the long-sought iron-based rare earth permanent magnet. Nd2Fe14B transformed applied magnetism. At a discussion meeting in Brussels it was decided to create the pioneering ‘Concerted European Action on Magnets’, which from 1985 – 1995 associated all the academic and industrial groups in Europe actively working on rare earth iron permanent magnets and their applications. At its height, Coey coordinated the research of 80 groups across the continent, with the help of three colleagues. A monograph on Permanent Magnetism written with Ralph Skomski followed in 1999. A highlight from that period was the discovery of a new iron-based rare-earth magnet Sm2Fe17N3, which was produced by a novel gas-phase interstitial modification process. Another outcome was the foundation in 1994 of Magnetic Solutions Ltd, a spin-off initially devoted to innovative applications of permanent magnets, such as the ‘Multimag’ 2-tesla variable flux source. The company later went on to develop a business manufacturing wafer-scale magnetic annealing tools for the magnetic recording and semiconductor industry.

He pursued his interest throughout the 80s in the magnetism of natural minerals, including those found in clays, meteorites and tropical oxisols, and had brief dalliances with high-TC superconductivity and cold fusion, the sensations of the decade, but Michael Coey refocussed his interests on magnetorsistive oxides, especially when in the form of films of a few nanometers thick. Opportunites existed to exploit half-metals as sources of spin-polarized electrons in new thin film devices. This was the aim of the ‘Oxide Spin Electronics Network’, an EU-funded group of eight laboratories sharing postdocs and graduate students, which he coordinated in the late 90s. Investigations of the magnetoresistance of nanoscale oxide point contacts led to the discovery of powder magnetoresistance in pressed powder compacts.

A sabbatical at the University of California, San Diego and at Florida State University in 1996/97 spurred a new interest in the effects of magnetic fields on electrochemical processes. The choice was guided by a desire to pick problems off the beaten track, where there was little need for sophisticated equipment.

A happy consequence of the economic boom in Ireland in the 1990s was the establishment in 2001 of Science Foundation Ireland, a properly-funded agency with a mission to secure a foothold for the country in the future knowledge economy. In a first jump-start round of funding, a dozen large five-year grants were awarded, purely the basis of internationally peer-reviewed excellence, to support a principal investigator and their team, and build up their equipment base. An award for a program on ‘Conception and Implementation of Nanoscale Spin Electronics’ allowed Coey at last to equip an internationally competitive research laboratory for magnetic nanostructures. Together with three colleagues who had also secured awards for programs in other areas of naonscience at Trinity College, Coey promoted the establishment of a purpose-built nanoscience research institute on the College campus. The Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices, CRANN, was opened by the Taoiseach in 2007. The new building incorporates his brainchild, the Science Gallery, which is dedicated to an innovative program of science outreach for young adults.

With the new facilities, Coey has embarked on a program of research in spin electronics based on magnetic tunnel junction structures, and he has also explored a new group of materials which, in the form of thin films or nanoparticles, mysteriously exhibit ferromagnetic properties without the 3d or 4f moments that usually characterize ferromagnets. Working at the state of the art, Coey’s research group has helped to establish Ireland as a significant player in nanoscience, and It has also led to valuable industrial engagements. He has written many papers, reviws and books, and has received a series of honours unique for any contemporary Irish scientist, including Fellow of the Royal Society, and Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Science. He has held visiting professorships, mostly in France, and currently at the National University of Singapore.

Michael Coey’s broad interests across the field of magnetism make him a popular speaker at conferences, Schools and Colloquia. He served as Chairman of the IUPAP Magnetism Commission, where he inaugurated the Néel medal for outstanding achievement in the field. His textbook on Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (2010) will help to define the subject for the next decade. His approach to science is experimental and exploratory, firmly rooted in the critical assessment of data, guided by simple physical models, an approach epitomized in Kammerling Onnes’s motto Door meten tot weten. Both by inclination and experience, he sees science as the outstanding collective endeavour of humanity.

Professor Markus ButtikerUniversity of Geneva, Switzerland

Professor Markus Buttiker received a diploma in theoretical physics in 1974 from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. In 1978 he received a Ph.D. degree from the University of Basel, Switzerland for work on non-equilibrium phase transitions in electrical conductors. From 1979 to 1981 he was a postdoctoral fellow at IBM T. J. Watson Research Center in Yorktwon Heights, New York, working with Rolf Landauer on the statistical mechanics of soliton bearing systems. In 1981 Markus Buttiker became a member of the IBM research staff. Work on time scales in quantum tunneling was followed by predictions of sample specific mesoscopic phenomena, like persistent currents and Aharonov-Bohm effects in normal metal rings. A theory of quantum coherent transport for multiterminal conductors was developed and applied to the quantum Hall effect. This was followed by a theory of current noise in coherent conductors. In 1994 he was nominated full professor at the University of Geneva. He directed the department of theoretical physics from 1998 to 2007. Work in Geneva centered on dynamic conductance phenomena, quantum pumping, few particle orbital entanglement in electrical conductors and the statistics of electron transport. Markus Buttiker is an author or coauthor of more than 240 papers. Markus Buttiker is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and holds US and Swiss citizenships.

Professor Lahcène OuahabUniversity of Rennes, France

Lahcène Ouahab, 59 old, obtained his Third Cycle thesis in 1977 and his State Doctorate in 1985 in the University of Rennes1. He was Assistant Professor and associate professor 1977-1987, in the University of Constantine Algeria. He won the entrance to the CNRS as Chargé de Recherche in 1989 in the Laboratory of Prof Daniel Grandjean. He was promoted as Director of Research in 1998. Lahcène Ouahab has been the Director of the Laboratory of Solid State and Inorganic Molecular Chemistry (LCSIM, UMR 6511) 2004 - 2006. He is currently the leader of the Multifunctional Inorganic Molecular Materials team within the UMR 6226 Rennes Chemical Science Laboratory. He is coordinating the France-Japon International research group GDRI. From 2008 to 2012, he was the President of the section 14 of the National Evaluation Committee for Coordination Chemistry. Since January 2011, he is a member of the International advisory board of the International Coordination Chemistry Conference (ICCC) and a member of the editorial board of “European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry” and”Chemistry a Mediterrannean J.”.Lahcène Ouahab was awarded in 2012 the “Grand Prix”Pierre Süe of the French Chemical Society ; the Price “Claude Berthault” of the French Academy of Sciences in 2011 ; the price of Coordination Chemistry Division of the French Chemical Society in 1998 ; the medal of the Rennes City Hall in 1999. He is a beneficiary of the CNRS Scientific Excellence Prime (PES) since 2010. He has been invited to many foreign Universities.Lahcène Ouahab is the author of more than 250 publications in international journals with more than 100 papers in journals with IF > 4. He published also 19 review articles and book chapters as well as 3 books and one special issue of the “Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences”. He presented about 140 invited lectures (21 plenaries) in international conferences and academic institutions through the world. He organized many scientific meetings among which, The NATO Advance Study Institute (2003) , the “First France-Japan advanced school” on Molecular Materials (2006) , the France-japan Coordination Chemistry Symposium 2011 . He also successfully obtained the organization of the ICCC in France in 2016.The research activities of Lahcène Ouahab belong to the multidisciplinary field of molecular materials. It is dealing with the use of coordination complexes in the design of new molecular materials. This concerns the physical-chemistry of charge transfer compounds and organic or organometallic radical ion salts. He is investigating several kinds of materials possessing electrical conductivity, magnetism, spin cross-over, luminescence as well as multifunctional materials possessing two or more of these properties. The aim of his research is, on basis of a rational approach, the synthesis of starting molecular fundamental building blocks, their assembly in new materials and then the studies of their structural and physical properties (electrical, magnetic and optical) for possible application in molecular electronics.Lahcène Ouahab is at the origin of several important results in the field of molecular materials among which :

- The introduction for the first time of polyoxometalates as inorganic acceptor components in the preparation of organic/inorganic hybrid materials by charge transfer between the electron donor organic system (TTFs) and the inorganic system (Polyoxometalates). This work is illustrated by (TTF)6(Et4N)(HXM12O40) (C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 1988, t. 307, série II, 749, J. Chem. Soc. Chem. Commun. , 1989, 1068, Coordination Chemistry Review., 1998, 180, 1495);- The extension of this work to polyoxometalates incorporating paramagnetic transition metal as for instance -(BEDT-TTF)8M′W12O40, M′ = Fe(III), Co(II), Cu(II) (Angew. Chem. , 1994, 33, 223; Angew. Chem.., 1995, 34 , 1460; Chemistry of Materials, 1997, 9, 1909-1926.);- The obtention of the first Fe(III) coordination complex with a nitronyl nitroxide radical as ligand and having a synergy between spin cross-over and antiferromagnetic interactions (Angew Chem. 1996, 35/18, 2113.);- The synthesis of the first paramagnetic transition metal coordination complexes with redox active ligands derived from TTFs as well as their mono and bi-radical cations [MII(hfac)2(TTF-py)2].+ and [MII(hfac)2(TTF-py)2]..++ [M=CuII, MnII] where the conducting and the paramagnetic systems are covalently linked. (Inorg. Chem., 2003, 42, 1791; EurJIC, 2004, 933.);- The design of a simple and efficient route for the synthesis of homo and hetero polynuclear complexes. This method led to the access to Single Chain Magnets as well as to the first polynuclear coordination complexes with redox active ligand derived from TTFs. (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2005, 127(35), 12246.; J.C.S.. Chem Commun., 2007, 280; Chemistry . Eur. Jour, 2008, 2034.);- The elaboration of the first Lanthanide coordination complexes with redox active ligands derived from TTFs : efficient charge transfer antenna for the sensitization of Ln(III) luminescence. (J.C.S. Chem. Commun. 2009, 377; Chemistry . Eur. Jour, 2010, 16, 11926.);- The very recent discovery of the first luminescent and electroactifs Single Molecule Magnet, SMM based on Ln(III) and TTFs. (Chemistry . Eur. Jour, 2011, 17, 10397 ; J.C.S. Chem. Commun. 2012, 48(5), 714.)

Ferenc Krausz was born in Mor, Hungary, on 17 May 1962. He was awarded his M. S. in Electrical Engineering at Budapest University of Technology in 1985, his Ph. D. in Quantum Electronics at Vienna University of Technology in 1991, and his "Habilitation" degree in the same field at the same university in 1993. He joined the Department of Electrical Engineering as an Associate Professor in 1998 and became Full Professor in the same department in 1999. In 2003 he was appointed Director of the Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik in Garching, Germany, and since October 2004 he has also been Professor of Physics and Chair of Experimental Physics at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. His research includes nonlinear light-matter interactions, ultrashort light pulse generation from the infrared to the X-ray spectral range, and studiesof ultrafast microscopic processes. By using chirped multilayer mirrors, his group made intense light pulses comprising merely a few wave cycles available for a wide range of applications and utilized them for pushing the frontiers of ultrafast science into the attosecond regime. His most recent research direction in attosecond physics is the control and real-time observation of the atomic-scale motion of electrons and the development of brilliant X-ray and charged-particle sources for applications in physics and biomedicine. He co-founded Femtolasers GmbH, a Vienna-based company specializing in Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser sources and initiated Ultrafast Innovations GmbH, a joint venture of the Max Planck Society and the Ludwig-Maximilian-Universität München making cutting-edge ultrafast technologies available to research groups all over the world. Ferenc Krausz is a citizen of both Hungary and Austria and lives with wife Angela and his children Anita and Martina in Garching, Germany. He feels greatly privileged to live at a time when borders between these and other countries in Europe are being peacefully dismantled.

Atac Imamoglu has been full Professor of Quantum Electronics at the Department of Physics of the ETH Zurich since December 2002, where he is heading the research group on Quantum Photonics.

Prof. Imamoglu received his Ph.D from Stanford University with a dissertation on electromagnetically induced transparency and lasers without inversion. After postdoctoral stays at NTT Basic Research Laboratories in Tokyo, Japan and at the Institute of Theoretical Atomic and Molecular Physics at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he joined The University of California at Santa Barbara as an Assistant Professor in 1993. He was promoted to Associate Professorship in 1997 and to full Professorship in 1999. Prof. Imamoglu has pioneered the use of quantum dots in study of quantum optical phenomena. In particular, his group demonstrated the first quantum dot single photon source, the Purcell effect in quantum dot cavity-QED, and the use of photon correlation spectroscopy to understand quantum dot physics. Hiss current research interests include the study of strongly correlated systems using quantum optical techniques.

Prof. Imamoglu received the Charles Townes Award of the OSA in 2010, The Quantum Elecctronics Award of IEEE in 2009, Wolfgang Paul Award of the Humboldt Foundation in 2002, David and Lucile Packard Fellowship in 1996, and NSF Career Award in 1995. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and of the Optical Society of America.

Professor Marc MézardUniversity of Paris Sud, France

Prof. Marc Mézard graduated in 1980 from Ecole normale supérieure in Paris, France. He earned a PhD ("Doctorat d′Etat") in physics in 1984. He has been a researcher at CNRS since 1981, and professor at Ecole Polytechnique from 1987 to 2012. He has been the head of the Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Modèles Statistiques in Université Paris Sud (Orsay, France). He is presently the director of Ecole normale supérieure. In 1984-1986 he was a post-doc at the University of Roma 1 (Italy). His long stayss abroad as visiting scientist include the Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California Santa Barbara (USA) in 1998, the MSRI (Berkeley University, USA) in 2005, the University of Oldenburg (Germany) in 2009. He has published more than 150 papers in major international journals and he is the coauthor of two books: "Spin Glass Theory and Beyond", written with G. Parisi and M.A. Virasoro, and "Information, Physics, and Computation", written with A. Montanari. He has received several awards, among which the silver medal of CNRS in 1990, the ′Ampere′ prize from the french Academy of Science in 1996, and the Humboldt -Gay-Lussac prize in 2009. The stem of Professor Mézard′s research is the statistical physics of disordered systems. Together with his collaborators, he has made important contributions to the theory of spin glasses, the hierarchical structure of metastable states (ultrametricity), and the non-self averageness of some physical properties. This has led to the construction of the cavity method, a general method of approach to disordered systems that has found applications in several branches of science. The works of Marc Mézard ranges from disordered systems in physics, (pinning of random interfaces - manifolds, aging dynamics and modification of the fluctuation dissipation theorem in spin glasses and other disordered systems, level correlations in disordered electronic systems, theory of structural glasses, disordered superconductors…) to the interface of physics and biology (theory of heteropolymers and their elongation properties, theory of learning in neural networks,…), to information theory and computer science (error correcting codes, satisfiability of random Boolean formulae, group testing, broadcast and reconstruction, compressed sensing,…), and also to econophysics (wealth condensation, order books dynamics). Among his major contributions to these fields outside of physics one can mention seminal works on random matching and travelling salesman problems, the computation of the capacity of binary perceptrons, the discovery of a new efficient algorithm ("survey propagation") for solving the K-satisfiability problem, and a new approach to compressed sensing.

Professor André PerrinUniversity of Rennes, France

André Perrin, born in 1943, obtained his PhD in Chemistry in 1968 and his "Doctorat d′Etat" in Physical Science in 1976, under the supervision of Prof. J. Prigent, in the Laboratory of Solid State Chemistry of the University of Rennes. He joined the French CNRS (1968) and, after a post-doctoral stay in Bordeaux (ICMCB, Prof. P. Hagenmuller, 1977-1978), he was appointed as a Scientist and later as a Senior Scientist ("Directeur de Recherches") at CNRS in Rennes University (1990). He is retired from CNRS since 2009 and is presently Senior Professor at UFSCar (Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Brazil) in the LIEC laboratory headed by Prof. E. Longo.

André Perrin created in 1999 the CMEBA, the center for scanning electron microscopy and electronic microanalysis of the University of Rennes and was its director until 2009. He was the Deputy Director and then the Director of the Institut de Chimie de Rennes, a Research Federation under the auspices of CNRS, grouping almost the totality of the laboratories of chemistry of the University of Rennes (2002-2004). During his entire career, he was involved in solid state chemistry, focusing on complexes of uranyl, octahedral cluster-based rhenium chalcohalides and thin films of chalcogenide and oxide compounds.

Dinuclear and tetranuclear complexes of uranyl ion were synthesized in the early 70′s, in most cases by "soft chemistry" reactions, involving a now-called mechanochemistry approach under controlled vapor pressure of water. These new inorganic supramolecules opened the way to a basic study of the interaction between linear uranyl groups, bonded in their equatorial plane by hydroxo, oxo or halogen bridges. Their crystal structures were solved and their vibrational as well as their luminescence spectra were quantitatively interpreted in terms of the various coupling modes involved in these compounds.

The partial introduction of electron rich elements (especially rhenium) in place of molybdenum in Chevrel phases allowed to control the electronic density in these compounds and to reach the magic number of 24 electrons per cluster, with three consequences: the stabilization of the metastable Mo6S8, the experimental confirmation of the energy diagramme of these materials (illustrated by the changes in transport properties), and the possible existence of rhenium octahedral clusters, provided the ligands were well selected. Indeed, a number of new compounds were synthesized by high temperature solid state reaction and structurally characterized. They belong to the ternary Re-Y-X (Y = chalcogen, X = halogen) and the quaternary diagrammes M-Re-Y-X (M = countercation, in most cases alkaline). Selecting both the total number of ligands and the halogen/chalcogen ratio, a wide variety of stackings were controlled, including molecular or ionic 0-D, 1-D, 2-D and 3-D structures that involve different types of bridges. Some of these compounds are soluble in polar organic solvents, and even in water for restricted examples, giving access to new organic/inorganic hybrids and a nonmaterial approach. Examples are the substitution of counter cations by organic (alkylammonium or TTF derivatives), organometallic, complex, solvated or kryptate ones, the substitution of halogen apical ligands by cyano, azo or pyrazine ligands.

André Perrin created (1983) inside the Chemistry Department a thin film laboratory (now 2 sputtering and 2 Pulsed Laser Deposition chambers), with a material sciences approach focused on controlled growth and structural characterization, in relation with physical properties. Various materials were epitaxially grown and characterized, including as examples:

Cluster materials: Different molybdenum chalcogenides with octahedral or tetrahedral clusters and infinite chains were grown. The first example of pure epitaxial thin films of Chevrel Phases was demonstrated. These samples allowed a study of the pinning mechanisms in Chevrel Phases.

HTSC cuprates: The controlled epitaxial growth of various cuprates, mainly YBCO, was studied on a variety of substrates and orientations. The most significant results were related to: i) the effect of vicinal surfaces on the film growth ; ii) the films specifically grown for microwave applications: a clear correlation was demonstrated between the surface resistance, the losses and the concentration of high-angle grain boundaries ; iii) the effect of film-substrate interdiffusion and its control by epitaxial buffer layer.

Ferroelectric oxides : the main focus include the epitaxial growth by Pulsed Laser Deposition of PZT on various substrates, and the selective control, in this system, of either the epitaxial perovskite or the epitaxial metastable pyrochlore phase, by the choice of the structure of the substrate ; the epitaxial growth of the anisotropic Aurivillius phase SrBi2Nb2O9 : control of composition by several routes, evidence of intergrowth mechanisms in relation with the interfacial stabilization of a metastable phase, control of the growth direction by the choice of the substrate, in relation with structural and physical anisotropy, growth of heterostructures including epitaxial bottom electrode (metal or oxide) followed by epitaxial regrowth of SBN with various orientations ; the epitaxial growth by PLD and Chemical Solution Deposition of KTaxNb1-xO3 on a variety of substrates in order to design electro controlled “agile” devices for telecommunications applications: efforts were done to perfect the crystalline quality and to improve the agility (i.e. the ability to change the dielectric constant, then the frequency of a resonator by an applied electric field) while decreasing the losses.

André Perrin is the co-author of more than 200 peer-reviewed publications in international journals, co-author or co-editor of 9 books or special issues, co-chairman of 3 International Conferences. He is Professor Honoris Causa of the Institute of Materials of Taiyuan (PRC, 1989) and awarded the Prize of Solid State Chemistry Division (French Society of Chemistry, 1991). He gave a specialized cursus focused on the growth and characterization of thin films in France and several foreign universities, where he was welcomed as Invited Professor (Sao Carlos, Araraquara, Beer-Sheva, Bishkek, Novosibirsk, Joao Pessoa).

Professor Christiane PerrinUniversity of Rennes, France

Christiane Perrin was born in 1946. She started her graduate work in 1967 in Rennes University. She defended her Doctoral Thesis in solid state chemistry in 1971 and her Doctorat d’Etat es Sciences Physiques in 1981 in Rennes University in the Laboratory of Professor Jacques Prigent. She obtained a position at CNRS in 1971 and she continued to work in this laboratory as Scientist and then Senior Scientist (Directeur de Recherches) at CNRS. She is retired from CNRS since 2010 and she is presently Senior Professor at the University Federal of Sao Carlos (UFSCar), Brazil, in the LIEC headed by Professor E. Longo .

Research work on metal cluster chemistry

Her main research interests concerned the basic research on Solid State Chemistry of transition metal cluster compounds developed in her “Molecular Metal Cluster” team that she managed in the CSIM Laboratory of Rennes University. It was focused on synthesis, crystal structures and relationship between structures and properties of metal cluster compounds in which the change of the ligand types (halogen/chalcogen) and/or the cationic network allow to control the evolution of charge transfer on the cluster and the dimensionality of the compounds.

In the 1970’s she was the pioneer of the molybdenum cluster chalcohalides synthesized at high temperature. She has structurally characterized the first Mo4 tetrahedral cluster chalcohalides, and more recently, derived from these previous works, she obtained the first type-II-clathrate giant framework built from a molybdenum metal cluster. She has isolated the first families of Mo6 chalcohalides in which the progressive replacement of halogen ligands by chalcogen ones allows to reduce the dimensionality and to control the strengthening of intercluster interactions giving several series going from insulators with dielectric relaxations and dipole glass behaviour to semi-conductors and to metallic conductors with superconducting transitions. Theoretical calculations accompanied these structural works to study the metal-metal and metal-ligand bonding and to explain their physical properties.

Her further work on Nb6 and Ta6 clusters concerned halides compounds in which for the first time a magnetic network of 4f rare earths ions and a magnetic network due to d electrons of the metal clusters were associated in a same compound giving magnetic properties characteristics of the coexistence of these two sublatices. In order to get closer the metal clusters for increasing their interactions, the Cl, Br and I halogens where partly replaced by the smaller F or by oxygen, favoring antiferromagnetic interactions between metal clusters. She has obtained the first known series of Nb6 and Ta6 oxyhalides in which the relation between the number of valence electrons per cluster and the number of oxygen per cluster unit were in good agreement with the theoretical calculations.

Some of these cluster compounds, prepared by solid state chemistry at high temperature, were further dissolved in various solvents, then constituting efficient precursors for elaboration of hybrid organic/inorganic metal cluster compounds by ligand exchange or by metathesis in soft chemistry that allows handling some ligands instable in the high temperature conditions of the metal cluster synthesis. The grafting of functional ligands on the metal cluster gave access to hybrid cluster units that were further used in the elaboration of nanomaterials in which the specific properties of both the metal cluster units (luminescence, magnetism, redox properties) and the functional ligands can coexist giving materials potentially useful in optoelectronic or biotechnology. For instance, cluster-dendrimer assemblings, functionalized silicon surfaces giving new type of molecular junctions, silica nanoparticles with luminescent properties or bifunctional magnetic and luminescent silica nanoparticles were obtained with octahedral metal clusters.

She developed a great number of exchanges and formal collaborations with foreign groups working on metal cluster chemistry and she organized in Rennes the first IWTMC conference (International Workshop on Transition Metal Cluster) that is now held each two years.

High Tc Superconductors

Another research field developed by Christiane Perrin concerned the fluorination of high Tc superconductors in soft conditions. She was the first to efficiently fluorine YBa2Cu3Ox powders and ceramics by solid/gas reaction using diluted NF3 gas, in order to correlate the evolution of superconducting behavior to the charge transfers due to the presence of fluorine in the structure, to the influence of fluorine on the granularity and to the type of the sites occupied by fluorine in the structure. The later site occupancies were studied by powder neutron diffraction, by theoretical calculations and by 19F NMR. The NMR study allowed, using fluorine as local probe, to study at low field the vortex network in superconducting state and to evidence a transition in the vortex state.

She has fluorinated YBa2Cu3Ox thin films using the same solid/gas technique. The crystallographic studies performed on these thin films have shown that they were not degraded, their crystalline characteristics being entirely maintained after fluorination. In any case, the superconducting properties of deficient thin films were improved after fluorination.

The published work of Christiane Perrin consists in about 200 papers including several chapters of books and four patents. She was guest editor of three special issues on Cluster Chemistry. She was invited to give research seminars in various foreign Universities, especially: DPMC of Geneva, Polytechnic Institute of Lausanne, Iowa University, Wisconsin University, Bell Laboratory of Murray Hill, Cornell University, IBM Yorktown Heights, Chernogolovka (Russia), Gatchina (Russia), Novosibirsk (Russia), University of the Negev (Israel), several universities in Brazil (Natal, Joao Pessoa, Sao Carlos), Bishkek (Khirgystan), MPI für Festkörperforschung of Stuttgart, Institute of Rez (Czech Republic).

Professor Jesus-Maria Sanz-SernaUniversity of Valladolid, Spain

EDUCATION: I was born in Valladolid (Spain) on the 12th of June 1953. I received my secondary education at Colegio San José, where I was very lucky in having excellent science teachers. I studied Mathematics at Universidad de Valladolid between 1970 and 1975 and obtained a PhD degree there in 1977. The thesis was in Functional Analyisis and was supervised by A. Pérez Gómez.

I decided to change subjects and in 1978-1979 I took an MSc course in Numerical Analysis at the University of Dundee (Scotland). This was an excellent course taught by Ron Mitchell, Jack Lambert, Roger Fletcher, Alistair Watson, David Griffiths and other well-known numerical analysts.

• APPOINTMENTS: After graduating in 1975 I had several non-tenured appointements at Universidad de Valladolid. In 1981 I obtained a permanent appointment in Bilbao at the University of the Basque Country. In 1982 I moved back to Valladolid as tenured full-professor.

• RESEARCH: I have worked in different subfields of Applied Mathematics. Probably my most successful reseach has been that on the numerical integration of Hamiltonian problems. It got me an invitation to speak at the 1994 International Congress of Mathematicians (Zurich) (I think this was the first time a Spaniard was ever invited) and also the Dahlquist prize of SIAM in 1995 (the first time it was awarded). This sort of research has given rise to a very active area, nowadays referred to as Geometric Integration (by the way, a term I coined). I have also received the Iberdrola research prize (awarded once a year by a committee of Nobel prize winners to the best researcher in Spain across all fields), the prize of the Spanish Academy of Sciences, etc. (see Prizes in the menu bar). I also happen to be one of the most widely cited Spanish scientist, in spite of the fact that I had to interrup my research to serve as a Rector.

• RECTORSHIP: In 1998 I was elected by the University Senate Rector (Vicechancellor or President) of the University. My term in office expired in 2002. The rules for appointing rectors had by then been changed and the Government had decided that rectors were to be elected by all professors, students and other members of staff (with a system of weighted votes). I was reelected, by absolute majority of the votes, in 2002. My second term ended in June 2006. (Two consecutive terms in the maximum the University regulations allow.) While I was in office I chaired the Santander Group (an association of some fifty European universities) and I was also a member of the Permanent Committee of the Association of Rectors of Spanish Universities.

• BACK IN MATHEMATICS: When my term in office ended, I reassumed my mathematical work, that I had had to put aside completely for eight years. I have found the return to math easy and enjoyable.

• HERE ARE PRIZES AND OTHER HONOURS I HAVE RECEIVED

• Premio Extraordinario de Licenciatura

• Premio Extraordinario de Doctorado

• Premio Iberdrola de Ciencia y Tecnologia, 1995

• Dahlquist Prize of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) 1995

Maciej Lewenstein has studied physics at the Warsaw University, where he has obtained the Diplom (MSc) in 1978. He has joined Centre for Theoretical Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences in 1980 and remained there until 1995.

He has done his PHD at the University of Essen in 1983 under joint supervision of Fritz Haake and Kazimierz Rzążewski. He has spent his first post-doc years with F. Haake. After habilitation at the Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, he has spent 2 years as a research associate of R. Glauber at Harvard University. He obtained the professor title in Poland in 1993, and spent sabbaticals in 1992-1994 at CEA Saclay (Service des Photons, Atomes et Molécules), JILA and ITAMP (Harvard-Smithonian). He has become a member of the permanent stuff of CEA in 1995 until 1998, when he moved to Hannover as a full professor and the head of the quantum optics theory group. He remained there until 2005. In 2005 he has started a new group at the Institut of Photonic Sciences in Castelldefels (Barcelona).

His research interest are very broad and range from traditional quantum optics, through physics of cold gases, quantum information, physics of ultra-intense laser fields, statistical physics and interdisciplinary applications of physics. He is an author of over 400 publications, including over 80 Phys. Rev. Lett. and Europhys. Letts., 5 Science, 1 Nature and 8 Nature Physics articles. His papers were cited over 17000 times, and in the last 10 years he has published 15 Highly Cited Papers according to Essential Science Indicators of the Web of Science. His H-index is 67. He has presented over numerous invited talks at international conferences. His most important contributions include theory of high harmonic generation by low frequency laser fields and atto-second physics, quantum optics of dielectric media, studies of Bose-Einstein condensates and their excitations (solitons, phase fluctuations), theory of entanglement, and more recently studies of strongly correlated many body atomic and quantum optical systems.

Professor Paul O′BrienUniversity of Manchester, Manchester, England

Prof. Paul O′Brien graduated from the University of Liverpool in 1975 and took a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry supervised by Professor R.D.Gillard at University Coillege Cardiff in 1978. He is at present the Chair of Inorganic Materials Chemistry at the University of Manchester, a joint appointment between the Schools of Chemistry and Materials Science. He served as Research Dean at the Victoria University of Manchester (2000-2002) and as Head of the Chemistry Department and subsequently School of Chemistry through the formation of the new University (2002-2009). He worked at the University of London (1978-1999) at Chelsea, Queen Mary and Imperial Colleges, and also as a visiting Professor at Georgia Tech (1995-99). He is the recipient of distinguished alumni awards from both Liverpool (Potts Medal alvamater) and Cardiff (A.G.Evans Memorial Medal, Ph,D.). He received the Kroll Award from the IOMMM for process chemistry in 2007 and the first Peter Day Award of the RSC for Materials Chemistry in 2009. His research centres on developing new chemical processes for thin films and nanoparticles; especially of chalcogenide containing materials. In 2002 he founded Nanoco a company which manufactures nanoparticles which is now listed on AIM (June 2012 value >£125 M). He is active in the RSC leading the Materials Forum (2001-2006) and as a Trustee (Member of Council (2001-12); he served as one of the first Vice Presidents of the Society (2010-12). In Africa he managed for the Royal Society, a major programme (>£500 K over 12 years) in an historically black South African University (UZULU). He has addressed the Ghanaian Academy of Arts and Sciences on behalf of the Royal Society and has been funded by the RS them to build links with Ghana and Tanzania and now runs major programmes in both countries. He is a firm advocate of the promotion of science and engineering: Chemistry President of the BA, a frequent presenter at Café Scientifique, is featured in the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry. He has lectured widely at venues as diverse as the Royal Society, The Victoria and Albert Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Arts and for the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. Each year he presents several School′s lectures including a very popular master class on nanotechnology. This work was recognized in 2011 by the Colin Humphries award of the IoMMM. He has published well over 500 Scientific papers and authored with A.C. Jones ‘The Chemistry of Compound Semiconductor CVD’(1997). He has edited many books including a successful series on Nanoscience and Technology for the R.S.C. In 2009 he was a Visiting Fellow at Magdalen College Oxford and was a Distinguised Fellow at the Institute foe Advanced Studies Durham University in 2011. He is at present acting as the Head of the School of Materials at the University of Manchester.

Professor Antonio BianconiUniversity of Rome, Rome, Italy

Prof. Antonio Bianconi, born in Rome Italy 1944, graduated in Physics from the University of Rome in 1969 in the Giorgio Careri low temperature physics laboratory. Ugo Fano has been his supervisor during the work on synchrotron radiation spectroscopy at Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (1972-1976). Assistant professor of physics at Camerino University (1972-1980), associate Professor at Rome University (1980-1987), full professor at L′Aquila University (1987-1993) and Chair of Biophysics at Sapienza Rome University (1993-2012). Visiting Professor at Paris VI and VII, University of Tsukuba, University of Tokyo, Unversity of Somaly) I has worked in many synchrotron radiation facilities around the world (Stanford, Orsay, Daresbury, Tsukuba, ESRF, Trieste). He has been a pioneer of synchrotron radiation research for material science in Italy and it is well known at international level. He has published 370 papers on international journals receiving more 10000 citations, with a Hirsh factor 55. He has introduced methods like X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) [1], X-ray-Excited Optical Luminescence (XEOL) [2], unconventional photoemission methods [3,4]. He has realized in the 1970s the first soft x-ray beam lines on the Frascati 1GeV electro-synchrotron and at SSRL, Stanford. He has unveiled local structural features relevant for the functionality in complex materials like cuprate superconductors [5], manganites [6], vanadium oxides, valence fluctuating compounds [7], cerium oxide and catalysts. He has provided the first direct experimental identification after the Alex Muller discovery of high Tc superconductors that the carriers in doped cuprates, giving high temperature superconductivity, are holes in oxygen orbital [8]. He has showed the polymorphism of the CuO2 lattice at a short-range scale and a short time scale by usung polarized EXAFS and resonant x-ray diffraction [5]. Recently he has been developing the scanning nano x-ray diffraction for a real space mapping a lattice fluctuations in single crystals due to dopants self organization [9,10]. Using XANES he has solved the fluctuations of the local structure of active sites in metallo-proteins: calcium binding proteins, myoglobin [11], hemoglobins [12], transferrin, and hemocyanins. Using time resolved XANES he has identified transient states in of the ligand in the photodissociation process in myoglobin, Using small angle scattering he has identified the temperature dependent fluctuations of the Tau protein relevant for Alzheimer desease [13,14] and the formation prcoess of ferritin nano core [14]. He is now working on the fluctuations of myelin structure by scanning micro X-ray diffraction relevant for muscular distrophy desease. He has been in many international scientific committees of synchrotron radiation facilities and for many years in the scientific committee of the int. conference series on X-ray and Inner-shell processes. He has organized the first international conference on Biophysics and Synchrotron Radiation in Frascati and the second Int. Conf. on EXAFS and Near Edge Structure (1982). He has been the chairman of the 19th international conference on X-ray and Inner-shell processes held in Rome in 2002. Now he is the chairman of the series of workshops on high Tc superconductivity held in Erice (Sicily) each two years. He is the chairman of the series of conferences on “Stripes and high temperature superconductivity” since 1996.

G. K. Surya Prakashwas born in 1953 in Bangalore, India. He earned a B.Sc. (Hons) in chemistry from Bangalore University and an M.S. in chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. He came to the US in 1974 and joined Professor George Olah’s group at Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio) to pursue graduate work. He moved with Professor Olah to the University of Southern California (USC) in 1977 to help establish the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute and obtained his Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry at USC in 1978. He joined the faculty of USC in 1981 and he is currently the Director at the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute and a Professor holding the George A. and Judith A. Olah Nobel Laureate Chair in Hydrocarbon Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry, USC.

Professor Prakash has contributed immensely in solving global warming and energy related issues. With his Nobel Laureate colleague Professor George A. Olah, he is a co-proponent in the 90s of a new approach for a technological recycling of captured carbon dioxide (CCR- carbon dioxide capture and recycling), which provides an environmentally carbon neutral and inexhaustible source of carbon based fuels and feed-stocks. Although converting agricultural biomass or food products to fuels and feedstock is feasible and is increasingly used, the enormity of the fuel and feedstock problem cannot be solved by the use of biofuels alone and they can realistically supplement 10-15% of world’s energy requirements. A feasible solution to the carbon dioxide conundrum has been offered by Olah-Prakash’s pioneering approach of what is now called the Methanol Economy (see the monograph, Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy, co-authored with the G. A. Olah and A. Goeppert, Wiley-VCH, 2006 and 2nd Edition, 2009). The intriguing concept has moved recently from a laboratory research to gain increasing practical industrial interest and applications.

Methanol is easily transported and can serve as a proven single carbon-based feedstock to produce essential olefins (ethylene, propylene) and through which all the fuels and products currently derived from fossil fuels. Methanol-gasoline mixtures are excellent fuels for internal combustion and diesel engines and derived dimethyl ether (DME) is an excellent diesel fuel substitute and natural gas as well as liquefied petroleum gas substitute. Methanol is also an excellent fuel for direct oxidation methanol fuel cells (DMFC) of which Professor Prakash is a pioneering co-inventor. The DMFC technology has been commercially licensed to SFC Corporation. The Methanol Economy work developed by Olah-Prakash team is also commercially becoming successful and their patent portfolio is option-licensed to UOP-Honeywell.

Professor Prakash’s career over the past thirty years has revolved around fluorine from materials to medicine with rich contributions to the areas of fluorinations, redox and stereoselective reactions, battery and fuel cell electrolytes, electrochemistry, energy storage, polymers, superacids and stable carbocations, including application of ab initio and DFT theory. He is best known for his work with trifluoromethyltrimethylsilane, TMSCF3, now known as the Ruppert-Prakash reagent. TMSCF3 is the most widely used source for nucleophilic trifluoromethylations. He has developed many electrophilic and nucleophilic fluoroalkylation protocols and fluorination methods based on pyridinium (onium) polyhydrogen fluorides as room temperature nucleophilic fluorinating agents. His interests include also the use of superacids for electrophilic reactions (superelectrophilic activation) and solid acid catalysts such as Nafion-HR and gallium trifluoromethanesulfonate. Using superacids as catalysts, he has carried out selective hydroxylations, sulfurations, carboxylations and carbonylations of aromatic as well as aliphatic hydrocarbons.

Professor Prakash’s mechanistic studies include isolation and characterization by low temperature NMR of reactive intermediates such as carbocations, heterocations, onium ions, onium ylides and carbanions. His achievements include solving the structure of the highly controversial nonclassical 2-norbornyl cation, pagodane and isopagodane dications. The pagodane and isopagodane dications are the first examples of frozen Woodward-Hoffmann transition state analogs. His prolific studies on electron deficient intermediates are of fundamental importance in understanding strong acid catalyzed hydrocarbon conversion processes.

Professor Prakash’s research work is well funded and has been exceptionally productive, groundbreaking and successful with more than 660 peer-reviewed scientific publications, 11 books and over 40 patents and patent applications. According to the Science Citation Index published by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) in Philadelphia, his scientific papers have accumulated more than 13,000 citations. He has received a number of prestigious awards and accolades, the most recent being the 2004 American Chemical Society National Award for Creative Work in Fluorine Chemistry, 2006 American Chemical Society National Award in Hydrocarbon or Petroleum Chemistry and the 2006 Richard C. Tolman Award from the Southern California section of the American Chemical Society. He has also received the Distinguished Alumni Award from his alma mater, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India. In 2010, he received the Chemical Research Society of India Medal (CRSI Medal) for his extraordinary scientific contributions in promoting chemical research. He is also an elected Fellow of the American Association of Advancement of Science (AAAS), elected Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences and a Member of the European Academy of Arts, Sciences and Humanities. He also sits on the Editorial Boards of several international Chemical Journals.

Professor Gerard JaouenChemistry at Chimie PARITECH, France

Gérard Jaouen did graduate work at the University of Rennes, defending his doctoral thesis in organic chemistry in 1969 and earning a Doctorat d’Etat in Physical Sciences in 1973 in the laboratory of Professor R. Dabard. He spent the year 1973-1974 at Cambridge working with Professor Jack Lewis (now Lord Lewis), and on a number of occasions since has spent extended periods in Canada, collaborating with Dr M.J. McGlinchey at McMaster University and with Dr I.S. Butler at McGill. He became a member of the CNRS in 1970, was appointed Maître de Recherche (Directeur de Recherche) in 1976 and became Professor at the Ecole Nationale de Chimie in Paris in 1983, where in 1984 he set up the CNRS URA (Associated Research Unit) No. 403, and the UMR 7576 in 1997, of which he was the director till 2009. He is now appointed as a “classe exceptionnelle” professor and has been elected as a member of the CNRS national Committee in 1991 and 1995 and as a member of the CNU (French National Committee for Universities) in 2001, until 2011. He is a member of the ParisTech International Scientific Council set up in 2008.

In 1979 Dr. Jaouen decided to focus his interests in a new direction: that of bioorganometallics. At that time the situation was “hit and miss”, with some genuine but rare successes, as well as a number of obstacles obscuring the way forward, and in general an outlook that did not appear bright. Dorothy Hodgkin had solved the x-ray crystal structure of vitamin B12, while organometallic chemotherapy, which had been introduced by Ehrlich in the form of Salvarsan®, was abandoned in favor of antibiotics such as penicillin, just after World War II.

Bioorganometallic chemistry, first defined by us as a research topic in 1985 has enjoyed a steady growth since that time. In the mid-1980’s, this embryonic field was overshadowed by the supremacy of research on organometallic catalysis. The field has now flourished and has been recognized formally as an important part of the future of organometallic chemistry (Organometallics, 2011, 30, 20). In addition, the topic has already entered into the undergraduate curriculum through its incorporation into a recent textbook entitled “Basic Organometallic Chemistry” (2010).

It becomes clear that some of the apparent obstacles of this discipline to biological and biomedical applicability (aqueous solvents, time constraints for radiopharmaceuticals, anaerobic conditions, etc.), may be seen less as a brake than as a spur in the search for imaginative solutions.

These novel ideas have been presented in lectures at IUPAC meetings all over the world (Organometallics, OMCOS, Natural Products, ICCC) at North American conferences (Gordon, ACS, Canada) as well as in Europe (UK, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Switzerland, Russia, etc).

Professor Jaouen is the author of more than 390 papers including 17 reviews, and holds 14 patents. His achievements in bioorganometallic chemistry have been recognized by an award from the French Academy of Sciences in 1996. Moreover he has been elected to the “Institut Universitaire de France” in 1997. He received in 2001 a von Humboldt award in Berlin and was elected by the Royal Society of Chemistry as the Centenary Lecturer 2003 and has received a Pioneer Award from the American Institute of Chemists in 2002, the Bioorganometallic Award in Zurich (2004) and several named lectures (e.g. Dublin, Montreal). Gérard Jaouen was awarded “Chevalier dans l’ordre de la Légion d’Honneur” (2006).

Professor Vincenzo BaroneScuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Italy

The main research interests of Vincenzo Barone are related to a theoretical microscopic approach for the study of structural, dynamic, electronic and spectroscopic properties of complex systems (materials, nanostructures, biomolecules, “soft matter”), as well as of their reactivity. This analysis is based on the development of an integrated tool for the accurate description of physical-chemical processes in condensed phases, including a general and powerful electronic model (the result of the development of original and effective approaches in the framework of the density functional theory), an accurate description of solute-solvent interactions (through mixed discrete-continuum models), and the inclusion of the most important effects of nuclear motions (vibrational averaging of physical-chemical observables, reaction rates, vibronic structures, slow motions). Particular attention has been devoted to obtaining a computational accuracy comparable to that attainable by experiments, without losing the possibility of an interpretation in terms of basic chemical-physical models and simple general rules. The focalization towards realistic systems has typically implied “multiscale” approaches, i.e. the adoption of several theoretical models suitable for the different scales of a specific phenomenon, and their integration into more global descriptions. Moreover, it has also motivated a constant interest for computer architectures and, in the last years, grid implementations. The research strategy, at the crossway of theoretical and computational chemistry, has aimed at the development of integrated computational tools, which, starting from accurate and cost-effective methods for electronic structure calculation, take next into account environmental effects by integrated discrete-continuum approaches, and nuclear motions by models ranging from classical Molecular Dynamics (MD) to both time-dependent (TD) and time-independent (TI) quantum dynamics. A strong feeling for the interpretation of experimental results is evidenced by long-standing collaborations with top-level experimental groups. A constant effort has been devoted to making theoretical developments available in form of general and easily accessible computational tools.

4) Computational spectroscopy: The research activity in this area builds on, and provides a unifying frame for, all the above-mentioned topics. Specific developments, paving the way to the reproduction of spectral line-shapes, concern the effect of large amplitude nuclear motions on spectroscopic observables, and the computation of vibrationally resolved electronic spectra (absorption, emission, circular dichroism, and resonance Raman) for large molecular systems in condensed phases (PNAS 104, 9931 (2007), 54 citations; Angew.Chem. 46, 405 (2007), 53 citations; Acc.Chem.Res. 41, 605 (2008), 46 citations). In the field of ESR spectroscopy, development of a number of computational tools (Theor.Chim.Acta 91, 113 (1994), 82 citations; J.Chem.Theory Comput. 4, 751 (2008), 44 citations) has allowed to account for all the chemical/physical effects modulating the spectral observables, and to compute entire spectra (as opposed to individual parameters) in agreement with experiments (Phys.Chem.Chem.Phys. 8, 4609 (2006), 39 citations).

This methodological machinery has been employed to describe many systems and processes coupling accuracy comparable to that of the reference experiments with interpretability of the results in terms of molecular models and general rules. The focus has been on relatively fast “local” phenomena tuned by long-range intra- and inter-molecular interactions with comparable or longer characteristic time scales. Space and time multiscale approaches are particularly well adapted to these problems and have been at the heart of the PI’s research philosophy leading to integrated global descriptions of increasing sophistication and reliability, with the long-term perspective of building and validating a new generation of virtual microscopes and spectrophotomers with unprecedented effectiveness. The PI has always advocated the necessity of making innovative theoretical and computational methods available well beyond the circle of developers, especially towards the community of experimental researchers, that often have at hand highly interesting, challenging applications which require appropriate computational/theoretical assistance.

The scientific activity of the PI and his group, and his research leadership in the field of theoretical/computational chemistry is evidenced by the large number of contributions to the most influential scientific journals in chemistry (Chem. Rev., Accounts Chem. Res., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Chem. Soc. Rev., Angew. Chem. Int. Edit., J. Am. Chem. Soc., Chem-Eur. J.), with special reference to chemical physics and theoretical chemistry (J. Phys. Chem., J. Chem. Phys., J. Comput. Chem., Chem. Phys. Lett., Chem. Phys. Chem., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., J. Chem. Theory Comput.). Barone has authored more than 550 publications in international journals, and during the last 10 years has given more than 70 invited lectures at Italian and foreign institutions (with a total of more than 150 during his whole career). His publications have received over 25000 citations (2189, 2585, 2725, 3055, and 3295 in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011, respectively), with an h-index of 64 (46 for papers published since 2000). His papers have an average of 44 citations per paper; 7 papers have been cited more than 1000 times and 36 papers more than 100 times. Both the number of citations and the h-index has been hugely increasing in the last years.

In 2009 he was included among the ISI “highly cited” researchers for the Chemistry category. In the same year he has obtained the “Sacconi” Medal, which is awarded to chemistry scientists of international fame. In 2008 he was elected as member of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science, whose members are chosen among the scientists of all countries who have distinguished themselves by the value of their scientific work, their role of pioneers or leaders of a school in the broad field of the application of quantum mechanics to the study of molecules and macromolecules. The research activity of the PI has attracted numerous grants from commercial and academic institutions, the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research and the EU. He is Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, member of the American Chemical Society and of the American Institute of Physics, associated member of the Physical Chemistry and Biophysics Division (I) of IUPAC, member of the Scientific Boards of IRSAMC (Institut de Recherche sur les Systèmes Atomiques et Moléculaires Complexes, Toulouse, France), of the Chemistry Department of CNRS (France), and of the Doctoral School of the Padua University. He is member of the Advisory Boards of Spectrochimica Acta A, Theoretical Chemistry Accounts, Journal of Computational Chemistry, and Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. He is President of the Italian Chemical Society (SCI) for the period 2011-2013. Since 2011 prof. Barone is President of the Chemistry Panel of the National Agency for Research Evaluation (ANVUR).

Professor Vincenzo Barone also leads IDEA : a virtual laboratory of theoretical and computational chemistry based at the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa.

Professor James D. MurrayMathematical Biology , University of Oxford, UK

James D. Murray FRS, FRSE, Foreign Member of French Academy, was born in Moffat, Scotland in 1931 and received a B.Sc. in Mathematics and the first Ph.D. in Applied Mathematic at the University of St. Andrews and an M.A. and D.Sc. from the University of Oxford. He is Professor Emeritus of Mathematical Biology, University of Oxford, Professor Emeritus of Applied Mathematics, University of Washington and now Senior Scholar, Princeton University. He worked in fluid dynamics for 15 years and started to work on the applications of mathematics to biology, ecology and medicine in the late 1960’s. He was the founding Director of the Centre for Mathematical Biology in the University of Oxford in 1983 which was the model for many subsequent centres started around the world such as in Britain, Europe, USA, Australia and Japan. He was the first President of the European of Mathematical and Theoretical Biology.

Professor Murray’s research has been in a wide spectrum of areas, just a few of which are animal coat pattern formation, the spread and control of rabies, the mechanical theory of morphogenesis, brain tumour growth and control, marital interaction and divorce prediction, the benefits of cannibalism, bovine tuberculosis, wound healing and justifying tribal warfare. He has had many students and postdocs from around the world. He has published more than 230 research papers and several books of which the best known is Mathematical Biology which has been translated into Polish and Russian and which is now in its third printing of the 3rd edition. He is known for his lively public lectures about mathematics in the real world.

Professor Murray has been on the faculty of several universities: the University of Durham, Harvard, University College London, Michigan, New York University, University of Washington and was for most of his career at the University of Oxford. He has been a visiting professor at many universities around the world and is the recipient of numerous international awards, a few of which are: Guggenheim Fellow in Paris, the Royal Society’s Bakerian Prize Lecture (Physical Sciences premier prize lecture), London Mathematics Society’s Naylor Prize and lecture, Honorary member of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society (to celebrate its 125 year anniversary and one of only 38 since it was founded), Honorary Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford and several honorary degrees: three D.Sc., a Dr. Math. and an LL.D. As a result of his work on brain tumours an endowed professorship in perpetuity, the James D. Murray Chair in Applied Mathematics and Neuropatholgy, was established in the University of Washington in 2007. Oxford web page: http://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/people/profiles/james.murray

Professor Peter ZollerInstitute for Theoretical Physics, University of Innsbruck, Austria

Peter Zoller (born 16 September 1952) is a theoretical physicist from Austria. He is Professor at the University of Innsbruck and works on quantum optics and quantum information and is best known for his pioneering research on quantum computing and quantum communication and for bridging quantum optics and solid state physics.

Peter Zoller studied physics at the University of Innsbruck, obtained his doctorate there in February 1977, and became a lecturer at their Institute of Theoretical Physics. For 1978/79, he was granted a Max Kade stipend to research with Peter Lambropoulos at the University of Southern California. In 1980, he stayed in Auckland, New Zealand, as a researcher with the group around Dan Walls. In 1981, Peter Zoller handed in his book “Über die lichtstatistische Abhängigkeit resonanter Multiphoton-Prozesse” at the University of Innsbruck to qualify as a professor by receiving the “venia docendi”. He spent 1981/82 and 1988 as Visiting Fellow at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA) of the University of Colorado, Boulder, and 1986 as guest professor at the Université de Paris-Sud 11, Orsay. In 1991, Peter Zoller was appointed Professor of Physics and JILA Fellow at JILA and at the Physics Department of the University of Colorado, Boulder. At the end of 1994, he accepted a chair at the University of Innsbruck, where he has worked ever since. From 1995 to 1999, he headed the Institute of Theoretical Physics, from 2001 to 2004, he was vice-dean of studies. Peter Zoller continues to keep in close touch with JILA as Adjoint Fellow. Numerous guest professorships have taken him to all major centres of physics throughout the world. He was Loeb lecturer in Harvard, Boston, MA (2004), Yan Jici chair professor at the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, and chair professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing (2004), as well as Lorentz professor at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands (2005). In 2012 he is “Distinguished Fellow” at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching, Munich. Since 2003, Peter Zoller has also held the position of Scientific Director at the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Professor Nikola HajdinSerbian Academy of Sciences and Arts

Born inVrbovsko – Republic of Croatia. He is of Serbian nationality. Full professor the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Belgrade, Republic of Serbia.

He took his Ph.D. degree at the same Faculty in 1956. He was elected scientific associate at the Faculty of Civil Engineering in 1958, assistant professor in 1960, associate professor in 1961. and full professor in 1966. Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Belgrade.

Besides general subjects Theory of structural mechanics, Strength of materials, Theory of plates and shells, he also taught at the post-graduate studies the following subjects: Theory of plasticity, Non-linear elasticity and Theory of thin-walled structures.

In 1970 he was elected a corresponding member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and in 1976 a full member. Vice-president of SASA from 1994 till 2003, president of SASA from 2003.

He is a foreign member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts; of the European Academy of Sciences, Art and Literature seated in Paris; of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, headquartered in Salzburg; of the National Academy of Athens; of the European Academy of Sciences, Belgium. In the year 2000, he was elected honorary doctor of the National Technical University of Athens.

He is a member of the Greek Association for Scientific Research of Metal Structures; of the Scientific Committee of the Costruzioni Metaliche journal (Italy); of the Swiss Association for Steel Structures; of the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE); of the Scientific Committee of the International Association for Steel Structures (Eurosteel). He is an honorary member of: the Yugoslav Society for Mechanics, the Yugoslav Structural Engineers Society and the Greek National Society for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics.

He has proposed (in 1954) and elaborated a method for numerical analysis of boundary value problems in the Theory of elasticity, which has proved to be suitable both in Theory of linear girders and Theory of plates and shells. The method is based on modern numerical analysis concept and computer applications. In view of its wide-ranging application, the exact number of citation is difficult to ascertain. We can say that it was cited more them 100 times in foreign scientific literature

Scientific activity of Nikola Hajdin, to which he gave considerable contribution, relates primarily to application of numerical methods in Theory of elasticity and Structural mechanics and works in the Theory of thin walled-structures. N. Hajdin′s works in this field, for the most part published abroad, are among the most advanced and most important contributions of their kind. They have been presented in a number of journals and reviews, cited and used in numerous works and publications by foreign and domestic scientists. Exceptionally valuable among them are two monographs: "Dünnwandige Stäbe", Bd. 1 and 2 (with Dr. C.F. Kollbrunner), published by the Springer Publishing House in 1972 and 1975 respectively. The monographs constitute a unic work in terms of content, with a series of contributions originally describing the author′s area of interest spanning well over twenty years.

Scientific opus of Professor Hajdin of about 199 papers (almost half of which were published abroad in the most distinguished journals); he has over 380 citations abroad and several hundreds in Yugoslavia.

Professor Hajdin is highly valued author of a series of steel and concrete structures. The following achievements deserve special attention: railway cable-stayed bridge across the Sava river in Belgrade (with Lj. Jevtović), 1979, with central span of 254 m, and total length of 556 m. - The first bridge of this kind for railway traffic; cable-stayed road bridge across the Danube in Novi Sad (1981), with the record span of 351 m; arch dam GlaŇĺnje (Macedonia), height 85 m (1967); the biggest cable-stayed bridge (375 m span) over Visla river in Poland.

During his professional career Professor Hajdin carried out a number of scientific and professional duties at many associations in Yugoslavia and abroad: President of the Yugoslav Group of the International Association of Bridges and Structural Engineering (IABSE) and a member of the Permanent Committee of this organization, president of the Yugoslav Committee of the International Union for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics,, President of the Yugoslav Society of Structural Engineers.

He was visiting professor on the subject of Thin-walled structures at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich from 1971 to 1973, guest-scientist of the Swiss Association for Steel Structures. He visited Switzerland many times, participating in research in the theory of thin-walled structures. He also delivered many lectures at scientific conferences at foreign universities and institutions.

He is a member of different scientific committees of international symposia and conferences.

Nüket Yetiş was born in 1950, in Eskisehir, Turkey. She received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering and MBA in Operations Management degrees from Bosporus University in 1973 and 1975 respectively. She obtained her PhD in Industrial Engineering from Istanbul Technical University in 1982.

Her main research areas are in Engineering and Technology Management, Quality Management, Production Management and Enterprise Resource Management. Her interests cover applied research as well as systems design and implementation.

She has started her career as a researcher at the Department of Operations Research, Marmara Research Centre, TÜBITAK (1975-1980). She worked as a research assistant in the department of Industrial Engineering, in Istanbul Technical University (1980-1982). Afterwards she was appointed as an instructor at the same department (1980-1982).

She was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Department of Business Administration, in the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences in Marmara University (MU) between 1985 and 1989. Then she became the Associate Dean of MU’s Faculty of Engineering (1990-1994). She is among the founders of the Faculty of Engineering. She established the Masters and Doctoral Programmes of Engineering Management.

She was appointed as the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering in MU (1994-2000). She was the leader of Continuous Quality Improvement movement at the same faculty, making it the first Turkish public organisation that became a finalist for the European Quality Award in 2000. MUFE was the first applicant and finalist for the European Quality Award in higher education in Europe. She became the director of the Turkish Institute for Industrial Management (2000-2003). During her term, she led several management reform and restructuring projects for different organisations. From 2000 through 2003, with moderate increase of number of employees, operational revenues of the institute went up 20-fold. The institute logged a full financial self sufficiency in 2002.

Dr. Yetiş has been the President of TÜBITAK since January 2004. During her tenure, she has led a restructuring initiative that resulted multi-tens fold increase in both the financial support and the services provided by TÜBITAK to Turkish Research Area. This development is one of the root causes of the exponential increase of the main Science and Technology indicators of Turkey.Nüket Yetiş, supervised more than 16 PhD and graduate students. She is the first author of the book “European Quality Award 2000, First Application in Public Sector Category from Turkey” (in Turkish). She has more than 70 research papers.

Yetiş has been actively involved with international scientific organizations. She was a member of European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Healthcare Group and Education Group, (1998-2003). She was the member of the Joint Research Council′s Board of Governors, (2004-2009). She is the founding member of Association for Evaluation and Accreditation of Engineering Programs in Turkey.

She has been a member of the European Research Area Board since April 2008, the European Science Foundation Governing Council and General Council since 2005 and the selected member of EUROHORCS’s Steering Committee. She served as the member of Membership Committees of both ESF and EUROHORCS’s. She is the member of PICMET Advisory Council till 2016. She is the Chair of ESF Member Organisation Forum on European Alliance on Research Career Development. She has been awarded the PICMET Medal of Excellence Award and The World Academy of Productivity Science Fellowship Award in 2010.

Author or co-author of about 270 peer-reviewed papers; co-author or co-editor of 9 monographs and books. According to Scopus 2011: 1608 citations since 1996; index H =24 ( 1421 and H=22 by excluding self-citations of all authors). Editorial board member of 16 international scientific journals. Former Editor of "Meccanica" and former Associate Editor of "European Journal of Mechanics A/Solids".

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE); American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME); International Association of Computational Mechanics (IACM); American Academy of Mechanics (AAM).

President of the Italian Association of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (AIMETA), 1986-1990; Rector, International Center of Mechanical Sciences (CISM), Udine, Italy, 2005-2010.

Honorary doctoral degrees from:

University of Thessaloniki, Greece; Faculté Polytechnique de Mons, Belgium; State University of Saint Petersburg, Russia. University Medal from University of Colorado, Boulder, USA. Copernicus Medal from Polish Academy of Sciences. Feltrinelli Prize from Italian National Academy "Lincei". Warner Koiter Medal 2000, from American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). O. C. Zienkiewicz Medal from Polish Association for Computational Mechanics. Ritz-Galerkin Medal from the European Community of Computational Methods in Applied Sciences (ECCOMAS). Life-Time Achievements Medal at the International Conference on Computational & Experimental Engineering and Sciences (ICCES′11), Nanjing, China.

Professor Crispulo GallegosUniversity of Huelva and Sevilla, Spain

Crispulo Gallegos was born in Sevilla (Spain), in 1955. He obtained his PhD at the Chemical Engineering Department of the University of Sevilla (1982).

He is, presently, Professor and Chair of Chemical Engineering at the University of Huelva (Spain) and Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Sevilla (Spain). He has worked as Visiting Professor at the University of Laval (Québec, Canada) and as BBVA Professor at the Chemical Engineering Department of the University of Cambridge.

In addition, he has been Vice-rector for Research Affairs at the University of Huelva (2000-2003) and Director of the R&D Centre on Food Technology (CIDERTA) at the University of Huelva.

His research is mainly focused on microstructured product engineering. In this sense, his works deal with the relationship among microstructure, rheology and processing of complex fluids. He has published to date over 200 scientific papers on this subject. In addition, he has participated in more than 75 research projects sponsored by the administration or the industry (more than 45 as project leader). He is also author of more than 200 contributions to international and national Conferences (many of them as invited lecturer), co-inventor in 10 patents, and Director of 13 PhD Thesis on Complex Fluids Engineering.

In the field of Rheology, his work includes pioneering research on the application of non-linear viscoelastic constitutive models to describe the behaviour of complex dispersions i.e. food emulsions, food pastes, lubricating greases).

His research work has been widely transferred to industry. For instance, his research on the mechanical behaviour of heavy fuel oils at low temperature and high pressure was used by an oil company to recover thousands of tons of this type of material from the “Prestige” shipwreck, sunk at 4,000 m in the Atlantic Ocean. His work was publicly recognised by the Spanish Administration (2003). On the other hand, his research on the modification of bitumen with waste materials (i.e. plastics and tyre rubber), patented in 2007, and on the design of new formulations able to be processed at lower temperatures (patented in 2009) has been used by an oil company to manufacture, up to this moment, thousands of tons of “more environmentally friendly” asphalt. Finally, his work on new biodegradable plastics (bioplastics), patented also in 2009, has been used by a company to produce new biodegradable bags.

In 2004, he received the AIQB award to “Excellence in Research” given by the second largest chemical-industrial association in Spain.

He is Subject Editor on “Materials Processing and Product Development” of the journal “Chemical Engineering Research and Design”, official scientific journal of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (UK). In addition, he is member of the Editorial Boards of the journals “Rheologica Acta”, “Mechanics of Time-Dependent Materials”, “Applied Rheology” and “Grasas y Aceites”.

Also related to his research achievements, he has been Scientific Coordinator of the Food Technology Area of the National Agency for Evaluation and Prospective of the Spanish Ministry for Science and Technology (2001-2004), President of the Spanish Group of Rheology (1993-2006), and President of the European Society of Rheology (2009-continues).

Professor Peter FajfarFaculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Peter Fajfar was born 1943 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He is Professor of Structural and Earthquake Engineering at the Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. His main research interest is analysis and design of structures for earthquake loads.

Education and employment:

Diploma in 1966, M.Sc. in 1972, Ph.D in 1974 from University of Ljubljana.1967-68 employed at the construction site, from 1968 employed at the Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering, University of Ljubljana. In the period 1985 - 1987 Dean, in the period 1985 - 1990 and from 2001 on Head of the Institute for Structural Engineering, Earthquake Engineering and Construction IT at the faculty. Visiting researcher at the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany (1972/73), University of California, Berkeley, USA (1980), and University in Tokushima, Japan (1993). Visiting Professor at Technion, Haifa, Israel (1989), McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada (1994), Stanford University, USA (1995), University of Bristol, UK (2006), and University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand (2009).

Research areas:

His early research was focused to elastic analysis of building structures. As a result of this work he developed a program for elastic analysis of multi-storey structures, which has been an indispensable tool in the design of buildings in Slovenia and the former Yugoslavia for three decades. Later, his research extended to nonlinear seismic analysis of building structures and bridges, inelastic response spectra, the determination of seismic actions, earthquake design methodologies and their implementation in standards and codes. With collaborators, he has developed a simplified method for nonlinear seismic analysis of structures, called the N2 method, which has been implemented into the European standard for design of structures for earthquake resistance Eurocode 8. He was the principal investigator in numerous national and international research projects with the most reputable universities around the world (including Stanford University, University of California at Berkeley and University of Tokyo), and the Slovenian coordinator in several European projects within the Framework Programs.

Publications and lectures:

Author of three books (in Slovenian), among them the first book Structural Dynamics in Slovenia. Co-author of the first comprehensive book on earthquake engineering in former Yugoslavia. Author or co-author of more than 300 scientific papers published in journals and conference proceedings. The largest impact have had two papers on the simplified nonlinear method for seismic analysis of structures: Fajfar P. Capacity spectrum method based on inelastic demand spectra. Earthquake eng. struct. dyn., 1999, 28(9), 979-993 and Fajfar P. A nonlinear analysis method for performance-based seismic design. Earthq. spectra, 2000, 16(3), 573-592.Invited lecturer at universities and research centres in the USA, Canada, Japan, China, Switzerland, Israel, Germany, Hungary, Taiwan, Cyprus, Indonesia, Croatia and at numerous national and international conferences, including the keynote lecture at the 12th European Conference on Earthquake Engineering, London, 2002.

President of the Yugoslav Association of Earthquake Engineering (1984-88) and founding President of the Slovenian Association of Earthquake Engineering (1988-90); National delegate of Yugoslavia (1986-91) and Slovenia (1992-2000) in the International Association of Earthquake Engineering; Member of the Executive Committees of the European Association of Earthquake Engineering (2002-2010) and of the International Association of Earthquake Engineering (from 2004); member of Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, USA (from 1981).Organizer and co-chairman (with Prof. Krawinkler from Stanford University) of 3 international workshops in years 1992, 1997 and 2004.Representative of Slovenia in the Technical committee TC250/SC8 responsible for the development of the European standard for seismic resistant design Eurocode 8. As designer, consultant and reviewer, he has participated in more than 100 design projects, which have mainly dealt with static and dynamic analysis of buildings and civil engineering structures.

Honors:

Member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts since 1987 and Head of its Division of Mathematical, Physical, Chemical and Engineering Sciences (2002 - 2008). Member of the Slovenian Academy of Engineering since 1996. Honorary Professor, Institute for Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology (IZIIS), Skopje, Macedonia, 1987; Advisory Professor of Chongqing Institute of Architecture and Engineering, Chongqing, PR China, 1988; National award for research achievements in nonlinear seismic analysis of RC structures, 1988; Award of the Republic of Slovenia for scientific work in civil engineering (the highest scientific honor in Slovenia), 1994; Academic Counsellor, International Academy of Engineering, Moscow, 1997; Award for engineering achievements, Engineering Chamber of Slovenia, 2009; Honorary Member, European Association for Earthquake Engineering, 2010.

Professor Valeriy P. MatveenkoUniversity of Burgundi, Dijon, France

Born 1948 in Kizel, Perm Kray, Russia, Valeriy Matveenko gained a Diploma of engineer-mechanic –researcher in 1972 from the Perm Polytechnic Institute, PhD degree in 1978 and Doctoral degree in 1987 from the Moscow Institute of Electronic Engineering.

From 1972-till now he has been working at the Institute of Continuous Media Mechanics of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, from 1983 as Head of the Laboratory of Modeling of Thermomechanical Processes in Solids (at present – the Department of Related problems in mechanics of deformable solids). In 1993 he became Director of the Institute, a position he still holds today. He is Chairman of the Perm Scientific Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences since 2000, and Vice-chairman of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences since 2008. He is also Head of the Department of Continuum Mechanics of the Perm State University (from1999-till now).

1997 he becam the corresponding member of RAS and year 2003 he was elected to become the full member of RAS and as Fellow Member of the European Academy of Sciences, 2010. Valeriy Matveenko is an author of more than 300 scientific works, including four monographs.

The finite element method has been extended to include the algorithms for numerical simulation of elastic bodies made of incompressible or weakly compressible materials. New methods for constructing singular solutions of two- and three-dimensional problems of the elasticity theory have been proposed. The obtained solutions have been used to gain new numerical data on the character of stress singularity at the vertices of different types of conical bodies and polyhedral wedges and also at the points of a spatial crack tip where its smoothness is broken. For different types of singular points, a new family of two- and three-dimensional singular elements has been constructed and mathematically substantiated. The problems of optimization of elastic body geometry in the vicinity of singular points have been formulated and solved. The analysis of the obtained solution has shown that the optimal surfaces have common properties. The algorithms for solving elastic problems for bodies with singular points are used to refine the test methods for adhesion strength and adhesive bond strength.New analytical solutions of two-dimensional static and dynamic problems of the asymmetric elasticity theory have been obtained. A finite-element algorithm has been constructed to solve two-and three-dimensional static and dynamic problems of the asymmetric theory of elasticity. The solutions obtained in the framework of the asymmetric elasticity theory have been compared with the solutions of classical theory of elasticity. The results of the comparative analysis have been used to design the schemes of experiments, which would be most effective in revealing the couple stress effects of the material behavior.Methods for solving multi-operator problems of linear viscoelasticity have been elaborated and substantiated mathematically. These methods allowed us find the effect of possible non-monotonic stress variation in piece-wise homogeneous viscoelastic bodies under constant or monotonically changing external loads.A new mechanical problem on natural vibrations of viscoelastic bodies has been proposed as an effective tool for finding optimal dynamic characteristics of viscoelastic structures. New models have been proposed to describe thermomechanical behavior pf polymers and polymer-based composites taking into account the processes of their polymerization, crystallization and glass transition. The experimental methods have been developed to identify the model parameters, and numerical algorithms have been constructed to solve the corresponding boundary value problems. The problems on natural and forced vibrations of piece-wise homogeneous electroviscoelastic bodies with passive and active external electric circuits including the resistance, capacitance and inductance elements have been stated. Practical applications of these problems to the case of finding optimal dynamic characteristics of the structures made of smart-materials on the basis of piezo elements have been considered.An algorithm for solving the stability problem of single- or multilayer cylindrical and conical shells subjected to external or internal fluid or gas flows has been developed. A numerical algorithm has been constructed to solve the stability problem of a rapidly rotating deformable body. Computational methods have been developed to solve the inverse problems dealing with identification of elastic and viscoelastic properties of a material based on the data of natural tests. Recently, a series of investigations have been made in the field of design if intellectual systems for monitoring the mechanical state of technical objects and constructions.

Other activities

Valeriy Matveenko is: Member of the Presidium of the Russian National Committee on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics; Member of the Scientific Councils on Solid Mechanics and Mechanics of Composite Materials and Structures of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Member of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Member of the Presidium of the Ural Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Member of the Supervisory Council of the Perm State Technical University; Chairman of the Expert Commission on Mathematics and Mechanics of the Council on Grants of the President of the Russian Federation for State Support of Young Scientists and Leading Scientific Schools of the Russian Federation; Editor in Chief of the journal «Computational Continuum Mechanics»; Member of the Editorial Boards of several international and Russian scientific journals.

Honours, awards

The State Prize in science and engineering (1999), The Medal for Labor Merits (1986), The Order of Honour (1999), The Order for Services to Motherland” 4th rank (2008), The mark of distinction “The Gold Emblem of Perm region” (2005).

A.S. Fokas has a BSc in Aeronautics from Imperial College (1975), a PhD in Applied Mathematics from the California Institute of Technology (1979) and an MD from the University of Miami, School of Medicine (1986).In 1986, at the age of 33, he was appointed Professor and Chairman of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science of Clarkson University, USA. In 1996 he was appointed to a Chair in Applied Mathematics at Imperial College, UK. In 2002 he was appointed to the newly inaugurated Chair in Nonlinear Mathematical Science at the University of Cambridge, UK.

In 2000 he was awarded the Naylor Prize (the most prestigious Prize in Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics in UK; the last five earlier recipients were Sir Roger Penrose, Sir Michael Berry, Sir John Ball, F.P. Kelly and S.W. Hawking). In 2004 he was awarded the Aristeion Prize in Sciences of the Academy of Athens (the most prestigious Prize of the Academy given every four years to a single scholar of Greek origin chosen from science, engineering, or medicine). In 2005 he was elected a Professorial Fellow at Clare Hall and was also decorated as the Commander of the Order of Phoenix by the President of the Hellenic Republic. In 2006 he was awarded the Excellence Prize of the Bodossaki Foundation (this premier scientific Prize is awarded every two years to scientists of Greek origin, as chosen by an international committee chaired by a Nobel Laureate). In the period 2004-2008,he received honourary degrees from five Universities. In 2009 he was selected as a Guggenheim Fellow on the basis “of stellar achievement and exceptional promise for continued accomplishment”. In 2010, he was appointed “Ambassador of Hellenism” by the Prefecture of Athens and was also elected a Fellow of the European Academy of Science. He is the youngest member of the Academy of Athens and the first ever Applied Mathematician to be elected a full member to the Academy.

He is an honorary member of the Institute of Computational and Applied Mathematics, Greece, as well as an honorary Member of the Philological Society Parnassos, Greece. He is an honorary citizen of Oinousses and of Delphoi.

He is the President of the Governing Body of the National Library of Greece, a member of the Advisory Board of the Goulandris Natural History Museum, a member of the International Advisory Board of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Imperial College, UK, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Nonlinear Mathematics and Applications, Loughborough University, UK. He is or has been a member of the Editorial Board of more than twenty scientific journals, including Proceedings of the Royal Society (Series A), Journal of Mathematical Physics, Selecta Mathematica, Studies in Applied Mathematics and Nonlinearity. He is also Co-Editor in chief of the Journal of Nonlinear Science and Associate Editor of the following three series: Progress in Physics and Mathematical Physics (Birkhauser), Modern Mechanics and Mathematics (CRC) and Publishing Program in Mathematics (de Gruyter).

He has delivered more than 250 invited talks and colloquia at international conferences and major universities including Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Berkeley, MIT, Caltech, Columbia, Oxford and Tokyo. Among his recent presentations are the opening address of the 45th Mathematical Olympiad, Greece, 2004, an invited address at the celebration of the Royal Irish Academy for the Bicentennial of W.R. Hamilton, Ireland, 2005, the SIAM Invited Address at the Annual meeting of AMS and MAA, USA, 2006, the opening plenary address of the international conference “Nonlinear Waves - Theory and Applications”, China, 2008, and the opening plenary address at the 2nd World Congress of Controversies in Neurology, 2008. He has also given several presentations addressing relations between mathematics, philosophy and neuroscience, including talks at Oxford, Beijing and the Athens Concert Hall.

He is the author or co-author of three monographs and of more than 250 papers, as well as the co-editor of seven books. He has published in different areas of science ranging from abstract areas such as differential geometry and bi-Hamiltonian structures, to applied areas such as models of chronic myelogenous leukaemia (with J.B. Keller) and protein folding (with I.M. Gel’fand). In particular, he has made seminal contributions in the field of integrability and has played a significant role in the solution of important mathematical problems arising in medical imaging. In the Special Millenium Issue: Mathematical Physics - Past and Future of the Journal of Mathematical Physics, June 2000, which summarised the “most important developments in mathematical physics in the 20th century”, A.S. Fokas was asked to contribute an article on integrability.

ISIWeb of Science includes A.S. Fokas in the list of the most highly cited researchers in the field of Mathematics.The late I.M. Gel’fand, one of the most eminent mathematicians of the last century (who has also made important contributions in biology), in the citation for the Aristeion Prize wrote “Fokas is now a very rare example of a scientist in the style of the renaissance”.

Professor Roger GuilardUniversity of Burgundi, Dijon, France

Roger Guilard is Professor of Chemistry at the University of Burgundy in France.

He received the « Agrégation de Sciences Physiques » Degree in 1966 and his Ph.D. in heterocyclic chemistry in 1971 from the University of Dijon. He was a Visiting Professor of Chemistry at the University of Houston in 1985 and again in 1987. He was also a Visiting Scientist in China and Japan.

He has been the recipient of the Coordination Chemistry Award from the French Chemical Society (1978) and of two Awards (1991, 1997) from the French Academy of Sciences. He received the “Grand Prix de l’Académie des Sciences, Prix Gaz de France” in 2001 and the “Robert Burns Woodward Career Award in Porphyrin Chemistry” in 2010. He was elected as a fellow of the European Academy of Sciences in 2011. He co-edited two series of 10 volumes published in 1999 and 2003 (Handbook of Porphyrins). He is currently the co-editor of five sets of 5 volumes (Handbook of Porphyrin Science). He was JSPS Fellow in 2008. He was an Associate Editor of Dalton Transations and he is member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines. He is the author of 425 papers and reviews and has been awarded 21 patents in the area of heterocyclic chemistry, organometallic chemistry and coordination chemistry.

His major contributions are both the area of basic research and applications. In addition to the synthesis and structural characterization of metalloporphyrins and the biomimetic modelling of metalloenzymes, a second line of research focuses on the preparation and physico-chemical characterization both in solution and in the solid state of transition, post-transition, lanthanide and actinide metal complexes formed with saturated and unsaturated polyazamacrocycles. Grafted and sol-gel immobilised complexes are used as specific adsorbents for detection (CO, H2) and purification (O2/N2) of gases. Similar functionalised materials (silica-gels, polymer fibers) are also implemented in solid/liquid extraction processes of heavy metals (Pb, Cd, actinides). Molecular organic frameworks are studied as adsorbents of CO2 and molecular interfacial catalysts are synthesized for CO2 reduction.

Doctor Martin SchadtMS High-Tech Consulting, Switzerland

Dr. Martin Schadt was born on 16th August 1938 in Liestal, Switzerland. In 1967 he obtained a doctoral degree in Experimental Physics from the University of Basel. He was granted a two-year post-doctoral fellowship at the National Research Council, Ottawa, Canada, where he continued his research on the electronic and optical properties of organic semiconductors. In 1969 he and D.F Williams patented the first solid state, organic light emitting display (OLED).

His first professional association was with the watch company Omega, Bienne, where he investigated atomic beam time standards. In 1969 he joined the Central Research Laboratories of F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Basel. Except for two years research in biophysics – i.e. ionic transport properties and optical response of artificial cell membranes – his research focused on the development of electro-optical field-effects for liquid crystal displays and novel liquid crystalline materials.

The search for correlations between molecular structures, material properties and display performance, which Schadt started in the early 1970s, enabled the development of new types of liquid crystals for TN- and subsequent field-effect applications. As a consequence the pharmaceutical company Roche established itself as a major liquid crystal supplier for the emerging LCD-industry.

Until 1994 Schadt headed the Liquid Crystal Research Division of Roche. Based on its LPP photo-alignment technology the Division was then turned into the spin-off company ROLIC Ltd, an interdisciplinary Research and Development Company which Schadt headed as CEO and delegate of the Board of Directors until his retirement in October 2002. He then founded MS High-Tech Consulting and is active as a scientific advisor to research organisations, industry and governmental agencies.

Schadt is a Fellow of the SID. He holds more than 106 US patents; each filed in 10-12 countries and has published 181 papers in leading scientific journals, including chapters in 4 books. He is a member of the editorial boards of Liquid Crystals and Molecular Crystals and of the Journal of SID.

He has received the following Awards:

1987 Roche Research and Development Prize: “For his decisive contributions to the knowledge of liquid crystal materials, their physical properties and electro-optics which have formed a basis for the breakthrough of a new display technology. His work has led to a new class of marketable products and to the scientific reputation of Roche in a new field”.

1987 Special SID Recognition Award from the American Society for Information Display: “For significant and continuing contributions to the theory and reduction to practice of high information content liquid crystal displays”.

1992 Karl Ferdinand Braun Recognition Award of the American Society for Information Display (SID): “For his outstanding and sustained scientific and technical contributions to the development of twisted nematic and other liquid crystal display technologies”.

1992 Fellow Award of the American Society for Information Display: “For his pioneering contributions to research and development of twisted nematic and other liquid crystal devices and materials”.

2008 IEEE Jun-ich Nishizawa Medal (awarded by the IEEE to W. Helfrich, M. Schadt and J. Fergason: “For their development of the technology for the display of choice for laptop computers, mobile phones, television sets and hundreds of industrial and consumer products”.

2009 Eduard Rhein Technology Prize “For outstanding and internationally acknowledged achievements in the area of novel electro-optical operating principles for flat panel display applications, the respective materials and device concepts; most notably for co-inventing the twisted nematic (TN) liquid crystal effect – the crucial core technology for the success of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) – as well as for other LCD operating modes and linearly polymerized photo-polymers”.

2010 G.W. Gray Medal, awarded by the British Liquid Crystal Society. “Martin Schadt is surely known to the community for his invention of the twisted nematic (TN) cell together with Wolfgang Helfrich in 1970. But this was by far not his only contribution. For example, Martin Schadt was also to propose the first OLED in 1969, the Kerr effect in liquid crystals (1972), now used in the novel Blue Phase displays, dual frequency addressing in 1982, he pioneered photo-alignment as an alternative to traditional rubbing techniques, and worked on the molecular design of new classes of commercially relevant liquid crystals”.

2010 Blaise Pascal Medal for Material Sciences, awarded by the European Academy of Sciences “In recognition of his pioneering contributions to the development of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and liquid crystal materials (LCs)”.

Professor Bernhard RiegerWacker-Chair of Macromolecular Chemistry of the TU Munich.

After receiving his PhD in 1988 at the Ludwig-Maximilian-University in Munich, Prof. Rieger held a postdoctoral position at the University of Massachussetts, Amherst (Department of Polymer Science and Engineering). Afterwards, he worked as chemist in the research laboratory of BASF from 1989 to 1991 dealing with synthetics and concentrating on the development of catalysts for fluidized-bed gas phase processes. His professorial dissertation was about metallocene-catalysts and their polymerization characteristics and was finalized at the Eberhard-Karls-University in Tübingen in 1995. In the same year, he received offers from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and from the University of Ulm. In the year 1996, Prof Rieger received an offer from the Institute of Polymer Research in Dresden, however, accepted the chair from Baden-Württemberg, Germany, as director of the newly founded Institute of Materials and Catalysis at the University of Ulm. Despite several offers from abroad and although he had returned to leading research positions of the Chemical Industry, he was presiding over the institute in Ulm till 2006. In October 2006, Prof. Rieger accepted the call to the Wacker-Chair of Macromolecular Chemistry of the TU Munich. He was appointed December 15th and, in addition, he became the head of the newly created Institute of Silicium Chemistry.

Prof. Rieger holds more than 80 patents and published about 250 scientific papers. In 1999 he got the Teachings Award of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg, the Cooperation Reward University/Economy of the University in Ulm in 2000 and he was the Philip Morris Foundation laureate in 2006. Moreover, Prof. Rieger acts as advisor for a great number of international chemistry and petrochemistry companies.

Research Activities:

The main focus of the research activities lies in the domain of homogeneous polymerization catalysis. The development of new catalyst systems gives the opportunity to selectively control the microstructure of polymers and thereby tailor the macroscopic material properties. To the investigated polymers belong polypropylene, polyethylene, polyketone, polycarbonates and polyesters as well as biodegradable polyhydroxybutyrate.

A further research focus lies on the utilization of CO2 as resource for the synthesis of polymers. Through copolymerization of epoxides, biodegradable polycarbonates are gained, which are half constituted out of a renewable feedstock. The quest for highly active and selective catalysts, which can be used in a large-scale industrial product, proceeds in close collaboration with leading global companies and universities.

The focus of the new institute for silicon chemistry lies in the field of oligo- and polymeric organo-functionalized silicon-compounds. Here, new materials are developed that possess new, until now not combinable properties like hardness, hydrophobicity, gas permeability as well as UV- and temperature stability.

Professor George DincaProfessor at the University of Bucharest, Department of Mathematics.

He was born in October ,1941 in Caracal, Romania. He studied mathematics at the University of Bucharest and receive his doctorate in 1968, supervised by professor Nicolae Cristescu. Except for his early papers devoted to dynamic plasticity, his research work falls into the domain which is currently called nonlinear analysis. His major research interests were focused on:

1. Monotone operators and their applications to nonlinear mechanics.Through the papers written around the seventies, George Dinca proved that monotone operators in the Minty-Browder sense provide the adequate functional framework to approach the boundary value problems of certain nonlinear theories of elasticity, plasticity and steady creep. Thus, he offers a nonlinear counterpart of Friedrichs′ famous work (Annals of Math., April 1947) showing that the appropriate functional framework in the study of boundary value problems of the theory of linear, homogeneous and isotropic elasticityis is that of linear, symmetric and strongly positive operators, defined on dense subspaces of a Hilbert space. By unifying the variational method and the method of monotone operators, George Dinca was engaged in carrying out the Hilbert program (uniqueness of the classical solution, existence and uniqueness of the weak solution, regularity of the weak solution, so that it becomes the classical solution, numerical realization) in approaching the Dirichlet problem with homogeneous place boundary conditions in the Hencky theory of nonlinear elasticity. 2. Coercive and semi-coercive hemivariational inequalities.This type of inequalities was introduced by P.D.Panagiotopoulos and is of great importance for what is now called "non-smooth mechanics ". In setting up this type of inequalities, as well as in obtaining existence results, an important role was played by Clarke′s gradient. The main tool that George Dinca used to obtain existence results was a process of regularization combined with a compactness method.

3. Topological methods for nonlinear operator equations. The equations considered have a duality mapping in the left-hand side and a Nemytsky-type operator in the right-hand side and were considered on different functional spaces: Sobolev spaces, Orlicz-Sobolev spaces, Sobolev spaces with variable exponent. In getting existence results and also in the study of the topological properties of the set solution, George Dinca intensively used the fundamental properties of the Brouwer degree and Leray-Scauder topological degree. George Dinca has published more than 70 papers and three books.

He was a visiting professor or invited to give lectures or research seminars at various universities: Catholic University of Louvain and Free University of Brussels (Belgium), City University of Hong Kong and Institute of Mathematics and Physics of Chinese Academy in Wuhan (China), the Pierre and Marie Curie University (Paris VI), Universite d ′ Orsay (Paris XI), Claude Bernard University (Lyon), University of Limoges, University of the Reunion (France), University of Thessaloniki (Grece), Universities of Pisa, Ferrara, Udine, Brescia (Italy),Johns Hopkins University and Brown University (USA). He has lectured at the Doctoral Schools o the Pierre and Marie Curie University(2000 and 2002) and the Doctoral School of the Claude Bernard University (2008). George Dinca received the Appllied Mathematics Award of the Mathematicians′ Balkan Union (1971), as well as the prestigious "Gheorghe Lazar" Prize of the Romanian Academy. He is Doctor Honoris Causa of the Pierre and Marie Curie University.

Professor J.T. KatsikadelisSchool of Civil Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens, Greece

John (Ioannis) T. Katsikadelis was born in Piraeus, Greece on December 15, 1937. He is married to Paraskevi- Eftychia Katsikadeli born Buyuka. He has one daughter Christina Katsikadeli married to Stefan Nussbaumer, and a granddaughter Katharina-Felicia Nussbaumer.

Education: He graduated from the School of Civil Engineering of the National technical University of Athens (NTUA) (1962). In 1970, after 8 years of intense professional activity as licensed civil engineer, he joined the chair of Structural Analysis at the School of Civil Engineering as research and teaching assistant and after completing his doctoral work he received the degree of Doctor Engineer in 1973. In 1974 he was awarded a scholarship by the Polytechnic University of New York, where he continued his graduate studies in the Department of Applied Mechanics of the School of Aerospace. These studies ended with an MSc degree and a new PhD in the field of Applied Mechanics (majored in continuum mechanics, applied mathematics and advanced dynamics). During the 1972 and 1973 he attended courses of his interest at the School of Mathematics of the University of Athens.

Academic career and positions held: Scientific Assistant and Senior Lecturer (1970- 1982), Assistant professor, Associate professor and Full Professor of Structural Analysis at the School of Civil Engineering, NTUA (1982-2004), Emeritus Professor (2004-), Professor of Structural Analysis at the School of Corps of Engineers of the Hellenic Army (1976-2008).

Head of the Structural Engineering Department of NTUA (1988-1990 & 1993-1995), Director of the Institute of Structural Analysis and Aseismic Research of NTUA (1984-2004), Director of the Earthquake Planning and Protection Organization (EPPO) of Greece (1989-1992). Director of European Center on Prevention and Forecasting of Earthquake (ECPFE) of the Council of Europe (1989-1992), Permanent Correspondent of Greece in the Open Partial Agreement of the Council of Europe for the “Protection Against and Relief of Major Natural and Technological Disasters” (1989-1992), Representative of Greece in the Permanent Network of National Correspondents for Civil Protection of EU (1991-1992). As the Director of ECPFE, EPPO and Permanent Correspondent in OPA he took the initiative and worked for the establishment of the European Code of Ethics in Earthquake Predictions and of the European Advisory and Evaluation Committee for Earthquake Predictions.

Professional Activities: Professional civil engineer in Greece. Experience in the design and construction of concrete and steel structures

Teaching Experience: He has taught over 14 different courses in Structural Analysis and Applied Mechanics at undergraduate and graduate level. Among them Statically Determinate and Indeterminate Structures, Matrix Structural Analysis, Theory of Plates, Theory of Shells, Boundary Elements, Dynamics of Structures, Continuum Mechanics, Theory of Elasticity and Elastodynamics, Buckling of Beams, Plates and Shells. He introduced, developed and updated several courses at Structural Department. In the beginning of 90’s, he introduced the BEM (Boundary Element Method) in the School of Civil Engineering as formal undergraduate and graduate course.

Honors: “Recent Developments in Boundary Element Methods: A Volume to Honour John T. Katsikadelis”, WitPress (2100), U.K., Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (2010), Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Engineering, Meждународня Инженерная Академия, москва (2010), Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Nis, Serbia (2009), Honorary member of the Serbian Society of Mechanics (2007), Fellow of the Wessex Institute, UK., Member of the New York Academy of Sciences.

President of the Hellenic Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (HSTAM) (2007-2010), President of the Greek Association for Computational Mechanics (GRACM) (1997-2000), General Secretary of the Office of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the Academy of Athens, Member of the Executive Council of the International Association for Computational Mechanics (IACM), Member of the General Assembly of IUTAM and Representative of HSTAM in IUTAM, 3 award plaques Honoris Causa by the General Staff of the Greek Army for his contribution as a professor to the School of the Corps of Engineers (1986, February and November 2009). He has served on important committees, has been a member of the Editorial Board of prestigious journals (among them: Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements, and Archive of Applied Mechanics), he has been a Committee Member or Chairman of important numerous conferences; Editor of Several Conference Proceedings and Guest Editor of special issues prepared for international journals.

Membership in Scientific Societies: He is a member of several societies among them: Hellenic Society for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (HSTAM), Greek Association for Computational Mechanics (GRACM), International Society for Computational Engineering and Sciences (ISCES), International Society of Boundary Elements (ISBE), Greek Society for Earthquake Engineering, Hellenic Society for Steel Structures Research, Technical Chamber of Greece, Greek Society of Civil Engineers, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Alumni Association of the Poly (Polytechnic University of New York), the Scientific Research Society Sigma Xi.

Research fields : Computational Mechanics, especially in the area of Boundary Element Methods and Mesh Reduction Methods. He has developed the BEM and applied it to linear and nonlinear analysis of structures (beams, plates, shells, membranes, cables) under static and dynamic loads. Shape optimization, stability and flutter instability of structures. Numerical solution of fractional differential equations and study of the response of structures under fractional type inertia and damping forces. One of his important contributions to computational mechanics is the introduction of the Concept of the Analog Equation, which combined with integral techniques has given the AEM and the MAEM, two methods that render the BEM and the RBFs Meshless Methods efficient and versatile computational tools for solving problems in engineering, mechanics and mathematical physics described by difficult and complicated integer or fractional order differential equations.

Publications: His publication record includes 15 books, 5 guest edited journal special issues, 7 invited chapters in books, 7 edited conference proceedings, 2 doctoral dissertations and 233 original papers in the most reputed international journals and international conference proceedings. His text book “Boundary Elements. Theory and Applications” (Elsevier 2002) has been translated into Japanese (Asakura, Tokyo 2004), Russian (Publishing House of Russian Civil Engineering Universities, Moscow 2007) and Serbian Gradjevinska Knjiga, Belgrade (to appear). His published work has received about 1000 citations.

Christos S. Zerefos was born in Cairo, Egypt and graduated in Physics from the University of Athens. MSc in Meteorology and Ph.D. in Physics-Meteorology, University of Athens. Post Doctoral researcher, National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and other Research Institutions in Greece and abroad. Professor of Atmospheric Physics at the Universities of Thessaloniki and Athens, visiting Professor at the Universities of Boston, Minnesota and Oslo (1973-today).

Has done research in ozone, UV, aerosols, climate change in the past 30 years. He has coordinated or participated in 50 international competitive research projects, funded by International Organizations (European Union, NASA, WMO etc) and participated in most of the major European Arctic Stratospheric Ozone Campaigns (EASOE, SESAME, MATCH). Has served as Review Editor of Chapter 5, IPCC Aviation Report and the European Assessments on ozone and UV as well as in the recent IPCC report on natural disasters and the EU report on Ozone-Climate Interactions. Member of the Academy of Athens, the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters, the Academia Europaea, the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and other Academies and research Institutions. Fellow of the Institute of Physics (UK) and Life Member of the American Geophysical Union (1997 Editors Award for Excellence in Refereeing).

Global Ozone Award (1997), Award of the European Physical Society and the Balkan Physical Union (2006), Honourable Mentions from the United Nations Environmental Program in 1995 and in 1998. Award Certificate and Letter from UNEP and from IPCC (2008) for his substantial contribution to the reports of IPCC, Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, University division of the American College ANATOLIA (2008), Distinction from the Ministry of Education of Cyprus (2008), Honorary Mention from the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (2009), Gold Medal of the Municipality of Thessaloniki (2009), City Medal of the Municipality of Athens (2010), Distinction from the Municipality of Panorama, Thessaloniki (2010) and the Ministry of Education of the Arab Republic of Egypt (2010). His proposal for the Geoastrophysics Museum at the National Observatory has been awarded with the 2010 European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Award.

His total published work comprises of about 200 research papers in peer reviewed scientific journals. His work has been acknowledged from the scientific community with more than 3500 citations. Holder of the UNESCO Chair for Natural Disasters, President elect of the International Ozone Commission (IO3C) of IAMAS of ICSU, President elect of the IUGG National Committee for Greece, former President of the National Observatory of Athens and other national and international fora.

In the past 30 years Christos Zerefos has created from the very beginning the following Research Centers and Institutions:

1. The Research Center for Atmospheric Physics and Climatology, Academy of Athens (1978) in collaboration with late Professor E. Mariolopoulos.

2. The Laboratory of Atmospheric Physics, University of Thessaloniki (1981).

Professor Boris emva Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Boris emva was born in June 1940 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry in 1964 from the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia and completed his PhD under the guidance of Professor Joze Slivnik at the same University in 1971. He obtained Bachelor’s degree in Economics in 1983 from the High Economic- Commercial School, University of Maribor. His first academic appointment was at the Department of Fluorine Chemistry at the Jožef Stefan Institute where he first developed his interest in inorganic fluorine chemistry, in particular the chemistry of noble gases. He was a head of the Department of Inorganic Chemistry and Technology at Jožef Stefan Institute from 1983 till 2006. He became a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Ljubljana in 1985 and at the International Postgraduate School of Jožef Stefan in 2004.

In the school year 1972-1973 he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley with Professor Neil Bartlett as his supervisor. He returned in Berkeley in 1978 for six months as an expert in fluorine chemistry. He was working at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and at the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. emva had played an important part in the development of the large-scale photochemical preparation of krypton difluoride and the low-temperature and nickel-fluoride-catalyzed preparation of xenon hexafluoride. The reactions between these potent oxidizing reagents and some metal fluorides in liquid anhydrous HF (aHF) as a solvent have yielded a variety of new simple and complex fluorides. Much of this novel synthetic work has been carried out at or below room temperature, and most of the new materials have been structurally defined. Dr. emva recognized that the thermodynamic instability of KrF2 meant that it should be a superior F- atom source than elemental fluorine itself. He was also aware that high oxidation states were most easily attained in an anion, in which the electronegativity of a given oxidation-state is minimized. Therefore he realized that solutions of the good fluorobase XeF6 in aHF, in combination with KrF2, should be effective in producing high oxidation-state salts which are excellent starting compounds for the preparation of binary fluorides. The syntheses of thermodynamically unstable binary fluorides e.g. NiF4, AgF3 and CuF3 were achieved by the precipitation of corresponding binary fluoride from NiF62- and AgF4- salts in aHF solution using fluoride acceptors such as BF3 and AsF5. The XeF5+ salts were selected because XeF6 salts of BF3 and AsF5, as well as those of the Ni(IV) and Ag(III) anions, are highly soluble in aHF. This meant that it was a very good chance of separating the desired NiF4 and AgF3 (which it was expected would have a low thermal stability) from the other reaction products. This was crucial to the first preparation of NiF4, which was precipitated (and washed with aHF) at dry-ice temperature, since this fluoride loses F2 above – 60º C. Also, AgF3 from XeF5+AgF4-, with minimal aHF washing, was of such high purity that it was immediately apparent from X-ray powder photographs that he prepared a material that was isostructural with AuF3.

The easy loss of fluorine from NiF4 led to the formation of black NiF3. It was concluded that NiF3 was in fact Ni(II)Ni(IV)F6. To prove this the best synthetic strategy was to add a solution of Ni2+[AsF6-]2 to one of [XeF5]+2[NiF6]2-. The black NiF3 precipitated from the aHF solutionand very soluble salt of [XeF5]+[AsF6]- in aHF was separated from NiF3. This procedure gave an efficient route to NiF3. A related route led to the “tungsten bronze” form of the trifluoride.

In the investigations of the oxidizing properties of AgF3 dissolved in acid, it was observed that xenon reduced the silver to Ag(I). This clearly meant that Ag(II) in acid aHF should be capable of oxidizing xenon. This was quickly confirmed with the rapid oxidation of Xe with AgF2 dissolved in AsF5/aHF and clearly pointed to the greater oxidizing potency of a given oxidation state when in a cation. In further studies of Ag(II) in aHF it was found that dilution of the solutions with added aHF led to disproportionation to a Ag(I) salt and the mixed Ag(II)/Ag(III) salt [AgF+]2[AgF4-][AsF6-]. Since Ag(I) salts in aHF are converted to Ag(II) by F2 at room temperature, this gives ready access to AgF3.

From the study of lanthanide/superacid systems, typified by AsF5 in aHF, three different compositions of salts were found: Ln(AsF6)3, LnF(AsF6)2 (Ce – Er), and Ln2F3(AsF6)3 (Ln = Tm, Yb, Lu). The very weak interaction of the anion ligands with Ln3+ in the first kind has provided new types of coordination compounds. The nearly “naked” cation can add pure donor ligands such as XeF2, or HF molecule, or AsF3 making: [La(XeF2)2.5](AsF6)3, [La(HF)2](AsF6)2, [Ln(AsF3)3](AsF6)3, Ln = Ce. This encouraged Dr. emva to investigate other metals e.g.[Pb(XeF2)3](AsF6)2, [Ca(XeF2)4](AsF6)2, [Ba(XeF2)4](SbF6)2.XeF2, [Ca(HF)](AsF6)2 etc. About sixty coordination compounds of this type were isolated and for majority of them also the crystal structures were determined.

Dr. emva has over 150 publications in referred journals, one world patent with German firm BASF, in addition, he has been invited worldwide to lecture at the symposia, at the universities and the institutes and also at the foreign industry. He was a guest editor of four special issues of different scientific journals. He is a member of many Editorial Boards of scientific journals. He was a chairman of the 11th European Symposium on Fluorine Chemistry (ESFC) in 1995 and co-chaiman of the 16th ESFC in 2010. He was a chairman of the 5th International Conference on Inorganic Materials in 2006.

The work of Professor emva has been recognised with the Boris Kidrič Award (the highest scientific honour in Slovenia); Fulbright travel grants (1972, 1978 to Berkeley); invitation as a “Visiting Miller Professor” at Berkeley (1993); and as Visiting Professor at the Institut de Chimie de la Matiére Condensée de Bordeaux, Pessac, France, 1997. Since 1996 he is a Full Member of the Engineering Academy of Slovenia. In 1999 he won an A. v. Humboldt Research Award, one of the most highly esteemed scientific awards in Germany. In 2001 he was appointed as Ambassador of Science of the Republic Slovenia. He was also conferred ACS Award for creative work in fluorine chemistry (2006).

Professor Clément Sanchez Laboratoire de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Paris” at the University of Pierre and Marie Curie of Paris

Clément Sanchez is Director of Research at the Council Research (CNRS) and Director of The “Laboratoire de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Paris” at the University of Pierre and Marie Curie of Paris (Collège de France). He received an engineer degree from l′Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris in 1978 and a “thèse d′état” (PhD) in physical chemistry from the University of Paris VI in 1981. He did a post-doctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley, and is currently performing research at the Collège de France in Paris. He was professor at l′Ecole Polytechnique (Palaiseau) during 1991-2003. He was head of the nanochemistry division in the C’nano Ile de France(2006-2009). He currently leads the research group « Hybrid Materials and Nanomaterials » and he is specialised in the field of nanochemistry and physical properties of nanostructured porous and non-porous transition metal oxide based gels and porous and non-porous hybrid organic inorganic materials shaped as monolith, microspheres and films. He is particularly interested on Bio-inspired approaches which allow to integrate molecular chemistry and sol-gel chemistry, soft matter and processing. He received the french IBM premium for materials science in 1988 and was a recipient of the Société Chimique de France premium solid state chemistry in 1994. He was the recipient of the Silver Medal of the CNRS for chemistry in 1995 and he also received the premium of the French Academy of Sciences for Application of Science to Industry in 2000.He received recently two international awards: The 2007 Catalan-Sabatier prize from the Royal Spanish Chemical Society and the 2008 Alexander von Humbolt Award. He also received recently two important national awards: the Pierre Süe Prize that is one of the two highest prizes of French Chemical Society (2009) and the IFP Prize that is also a very high award from the French Academy of Sciences (2010). He was scientific organiser of several international meetings associated to the field of soft-chemistry, hybrid materials and related bio-aspects(see extended CV for more details).

Graduated in Mathematics at the University of Pavia in 1970, Researcher of C.N.R. at the Istituto di Analisi Numerica in Pavia (now IMATI-CNR) from April 1, 1973 to October 31, 1990, Professor of Numerical Analysis at the University of Genova from November 1, 1990 to October 31, 1993, and then at the University of Pavia since November 1, 1993.

Associate editor of SISSC (SIAM Journal on Scientific and Statistical Computing, 1988-1993), of CMAME (Computer methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering) since 2001, of Italian Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics since 2008.

My research is focused on Numerical Methods for Partial Differential Equations.

In particular, different kinds of finite element approximations of problems coming from various applications: semiconductor device simulation, electromagnetism, fluid-dynamics, structural mechanics. In the last decade I was particularly interested in developing and analyzing schemes based on Discontinuous Galerkin methods, for the discretization of various applied problems, such as Darcy flows, advection-diffusion problems, and Reissner-Mindlin model for plate problems.

Marius Andruh (b. 1954) is Chair of the Inorganic Chemistry Department at the University of Bucharest and Professor in Coordination Chemistry. He studied Chemistry at the University of Bucharest and received his doctorate in 1988, under the supervision of the late Professor Maria Brezeanu. He spent one year as a post-doc in Orsay with Professor Olivier Kahn, and one and a half year in Göttingen, as an Alexander von Humboldt fellow, in the group of Professor Herbert W. Roesky. His major research interests are focused on:

Molecular Magnetism: new molecular magnetic materials constructed by combining three different spin carriers (2p-3d-4f, 3p-3d-4f and 3d-4d-4(5)d). His group obtained the first heterotrimetallic single chain magnets. He synthesized and studied the magnetic properties of new classes of oxalato- and cyano-bridged heterometallic complexes.

Crystal Engineering: original synthetic approaches leading to coordination polymers with interesting network topologies, employing homo- and heterobinuclear complexes as tectons. Novel systems were obtained through a unique interplay of π-π stacking and hydrogen bond, lipophilic or aurophilic interactions

He is a member of the Romanian Academy (corresponding member 2001, full member 2009), of the Academia Europaea (2004), and corresponding member of the Académie Européenne des Sciences, Arts et Lettres (2004). He was awarded the “G. Spacu” prize of the Romanian Academy (1990), the Gauss Professorship from the Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen (2006), and the Nenitzescu-Criegee lectureship by the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (2008/2009). Since 2009 he is the President of the Chemistry Division of the Romanian Academy.

He was a visiting professor in various places: Université de Bordeaux I; Universität Göttingen, Mazaryk University Brno, Université d’Angers; Université Pierre et Marie Curie Paris, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, University of Manchester, Université Louis Pasteur Strasbourg, Université Paul Sabatier Toulouse, Universitat de Valencia. Marius Andruh published about 190 papers and co-authored three books. He delivered more than 80 invited lectures and research seminars.

Professor Dmitrii KlimovInstitute for Problems in Mechanics of the Russian Academy of Sciences , Moscow

Klimov D.M. is a specialist in the field of mechanics (mechanics of many rigid bodies, gyroscopes, navigation, mechanics of materials, mechanics of technological processes). He performed deep studies of the problems of precision gyroscopic systems and inertial navigation systems. In the field of viscoplastic flows he developed the theory of flow of viscoplastic media with changeable boundaries. He took active part in the work concerning the use of georipping in oil and gas industry.

His last investigations concern with motion of bodies with dry friction (theory of tip-top and celt stone). He and his colleague Zhuravlev gave the new explanation of the shimmy phenomenon.

Klimov D.M. was elected as Full Member of the Russian Ac. of Sci. (1992). He got the State Prize of the USSR (1976) and the State Prize of the Russian Federation (1994). Klimov D.M is Deputy Academician-Secretary of Department of RAS, Member of Presidium of RAS, Editor-in Chief of Mechanics of Solids. He works in the Institute for Problems of Mechanics RAS.

Janusz Lewiński was born in 1956 in Poland. He did his undergraduate and doctoral studies at Warsaw University of Technology, and received Ph.D. degree in 1989 under the supervision of Professor S. Pasynkiewicz. Then he joined the Department of Homogeneous Catalysis and Organometallics at the same University, where he first developed his interest in organometallic chemistry, in particular the chemistry of the group 13 elements, and helped to pioneer the 27Al NMR spectroscopy in the identification of aluminium complexes. In 2001 he completed habilitation, and in 2007 he was appointed full professor at Warsaw University of Technology, where he is now Head of Organometallic and Functional Materials Laboratory. In 2007 accepted a similar position at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of Polish Academy of Science.

He spent periods as a visiting scientist and lecturer at the University van Amsterdam (Host: Prof. G. van Koten and Prof D. J. Stufkens), the Rice University, Houston (Host: Prof. A. R. Barron), and the Cambridge University (Host: Prof. A. E. H. Wheathley). His awards include, amongst others, the 2000 Polish Chemical Society′s Kemula Prize and the 2008 Sklodowska-Curie Award of Polish Academy of Science for his scientific activity in the field of organometallic chemistry.

His research addresses fundamental and applied aspects of the main group metals chemistry and is aimed at understanding the relationships between the structure, reactivity and desired functionality of various entities. He made seminal advances in the understanding of the reactivity of metal-carbon bonds in the group 12 and 13 organometallics, probing their activation of dioxygen. Aside from any fundamental curiosity concerning the structure characterization of the first aluminium and zinc alkylperoxides, a hypothesis concerning the reaction mechanism of metal alkyls with O2 was significantly advanced. His group revealed also a long overlooked decomposition pathway of zinc alkylperoxides via homolysis of the O-O bond which is responsible for the formation of oxo complexes. In this connection, he has also invented novel and efficient routes to polymer-coated zinc oxide nanoparticles for biomedical applications.

His other topics of research concern the field of supramolecular chemistry, crystal engineering and fabrication of hybrid organic–inorganic functional materials like coordination polymers based on organometallic nodes or open metal–organic frameworks with controllable size and morphology with potential applications in storage and separation of gases and small organic molecules.

Born in Toro (CB), Italy, Nick Serpone moved to Montreal, Canada, in 1951; was educated both in French and English schools obtaining a B.Sc. degree Honors Chemistry from Sir George Williams University (1964). Awarded various fellowships, most notably the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship and National Research Council of Canada Fellowships, he did his post-graduate studies at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, in Physical–Inorganic Chemistry under the mentorship of Prof. R.C. Fay obtaining a Ph.D. in 1968. He joined Concordia University (Montreal) as Assistant Professor of Chemistry (1968-1973), Associate Professor (1973-1980) and Full Professor (1980-1998). He is married to Linda Bell, has two married daughters who live in Rome (Italy) and Fort Worth (Texas) and a granddaughter.

He spent a sabbatical year at the Istituto Chimico Ciamician, University of Bologna (1975-1976, Prof. Balzani), and spent several semesters at Boston University (Prof. Hoffman) and at Brookhaven National Laboratory (Dr. Netzel) in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He was a Professeur Invit? at the Institut de chimie physique of the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (1983-1984; Prof. Graetzel), a Visiting Professor and Directeur de Recherche at the CNRS Laboratoire de Photocatalyse, Ecole Centrale de Lyon (Dr. P. Pichat, 1990-1991), and a Visiting Professor at the University of Ferrara, Italy (1997-1998, Prof. Scandola). In 1981, he co-founded the Canadian Center for Picosecond Laser Spectroscopy at Concordia University, and was its Director for some 15 years. He has collaborated actively with Canadian, American, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, and European scientists in the field of Photochemistry, Photophysics of nanomaterials, and Photocatalysis for over 30 years.

He has chaired numerous Organizing Committees, Review Panels and Appeal Boards at the Provincial, National and International (NSF & DOE) levels, and was a member of a Task Force of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (1990–1991) to examine the utilization of Solar Furnaces. He was an active member of l’Ordre des Chimistes du Quebec in which he served as a member of its Comit? des Examinateurs (1977-1979), and as Chairman of its Comit? Expérience (1979-1981). He served as a member of the Jury d’Évaluation of Québec’s Bourses d’Études Supérieures (1978-1981), and was Chairman (1985-1986) and member (1984-1987) of the Comit? des Subventions (chimie) for FCAR, Québec. He was Councilor for the Division of Inorganic Chemistry of the Chemical Institute of Canada, Ottawa (1983-1985), and recently he was a member of the Major Resources Support Committee for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (2007-2010) to evaluate and adjudicate proposals of thematic and physical resources in Canada. He has been a member of the Advisory Board of the Journal of Advanced Oxidation Technologies since its inception and was its Guest co-Editor for a Thematic Special Issue (2009-2010); was also a Guest co-Editor for the journal Applied Catalysis B:Environmental (2009-2010).

A consultant for the 3M Company (St. Paul, Minnesota) in the field of Imaging Science he was the 1997 co-recipient of the “Best Paper Award” from the Society for Imaging Science and Technology with Boris Levy (Boston University) and Mel Sahyun (3M Co., St. Paul). As an associate member of the Commission on Photochemistry of the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC; 1997–2000) and later as a member of IUPAC’s sub-Committee on Photochemistry he was instrumental in the write-up of the GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED IN PHOTOCATALYSIS AND RADIOCATALYSIS.

Following early retirement from Concordia University in 1998, he maintained his research and international collaborations as a University Research Professor (1998-2004) and as Professor Emeritus (2000-…) while at the same time serving as Program Director of the Inorganic, Bio-inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry program (1998-2001) for the U.S. National Science Foundation (Washington). He was part of Italy’s program “Rientro dei Cervelli” at the University of Pavia (2002-2005) and a Visiting Professor during the winter semesters (2005-…) in the department of Organic Chemistry where he continues his research interests on sunscreen active agents in collaboration with Prof. Albini. In the summer 2008 he was a Visiting Professor at the Tokyo University of Science (Noda Campus, Chiba) where he maintains an active research program in collaboration with Prof. Abe and Prof. Horikoshi into the interactions of microwaves with nanomaterials. Research into fundamentals and applications of metal-oxide nanomaterials in the general area of photocatalysis is being carried out with Drs. Emeline, Ryabchuk and Kuznetsov at the Institute of Physics, St. Petersburg State University (Russian Federation).

Giorgio Parisi was born in Rome on 4/8/1948 and he is married with two children. He graduated in physics from Rome University in 1970, the supervisor being Nicola Cabibbo.

He has worked as researcher at the INFN Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati from 1971 to 1981. In this period he has been in leave of absence from Frascati at the Columbia University, New York (1973-1974), at the Institute des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques (1976-1977) and at the Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris (1977-1978).

In 1981 he became full professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Rome II, Tor Vergata and since 1992 he is full professor of Quantum Theories at the University of Rome I, La Sapienza. He received the laurea honoris causa in Philosophy from Urbin University.

Giorgio Parisi have been awarded the Boltzmann Medal in 1992, the Dirac Medal and Prize in 1999, the Dannie Heineman Prize in 2005 and the European Science Microsoft Prize in 2007 and the Lagrange Prize in 2009. He also received the following Italian awards: the Feltrinelli Prize for physics in 1986, the Italgas Prize in 1993, the ‘Premio della Presidenza del Consiglio per la Cultura’ in 2002, the Enrico Fermi Award in 2003, the Nonino Prize in 2005 and the Galileo Galilei Prize in 2006. He also received an ERC senior grant in 2010.

Giorgio Parisi is a member of the Accademia dei Lincei (since 1987), of the French Academy (since 1992), of the Accademia dei Quaranta (since 2000), of the American National Academy of Sciences (since 2003) and of the Academia Europaea.

Giorgio Parisi is (or has been) member of the editorial board of several international journals: Nuclear Physics B, Communications in Mathematical Physics, Physica A, Journal of Statistical Physics, Europhysics Letters, International Journal of Physics, Il Nuovo Cimento, Journal de Physique, Journal of Statistical Mechanics, Physical Review E and Advances in Applied Mathematics. He is also (or has been) member of various scientific committees, in particular member of the scientific committee of the INFM, of the Institute des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques, of the Ecole Normale Superieure (Physique), of the Scuola Normale in Pisa and of the International Solvay Institutes. He has also been member of the French National Research Panel, of the administration council of the Human Frontiers Science Program Organization (HFSPO), head of the Italian delegation at the IUPAP, member of the Italian evaluation panel for physics for the years 2001-2003 and president of the SISSA valuation panel. He has been for many years in the European panel for physics (networking and Marie-Curie) and at the present moment he is in the Ideas panel for Junior grants.

His main activity has been in the field of elementary particles, theory of phase transitions and statistical mechanics, mathematical physics and string theory, disordered systems (spin glasses, structural glasses, optimization and complex systems), neural networks, theoretical immunology, computers and very large-scale simulations of QCD (the APE project), non-equilibrium statistical physics and animal behaviour.

He has written about 500 scientific publications on international peer-reviewed journals and about 50 contributions to congresses or schools (252 papers, from 1992, can be found online on the open access archives at arXiv.org). The full list can be found at http://chimera.roma1.infn.it/GIORGIO/. The total number of citations received by his works (more precisely by the subset of his works considered in the ISI database from 1975 onward) is roughly 27,700 and these citations provide him with a H-index equal to 78.

He has also written three books: Spin Glass Theory and Beyond (World Scientific, Singapore, 1987) in collaboration with M. Mézard and M.A. Virasoro, Statistical Field Theory (Addison Wesley, New York, 1988) and Field Theory, Disorder and Simulations (World Scientific, Singapore, 1992).

He has been the scientific director of the APE project from 1984 to 1988, which lead to the construction of a supercomputer dedicated to QCD. He has also been the coordinator of the European Network ‘Dyglagemem’ (2002-2006) and of the European STREP ‘Starflag’ (2004-2007).

He has been also the director of the CRN-INFM center for Statistical Mechanics and Complexity (SMC) in Rome that he founded in 2001. The SMC center coordinates the research of about 50 people, with 25 having permanent positions. He has left the director role on June 2009.

Professor Anthony KounadisFaculty of Civil Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens, Greece

Professor of Structural Analysis and Steel Bridges (Faculty of Civ. Eng. of the Nat. Techn. University of Athens, NTUA); Member of the Academy of Athens; Foreign Member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts; Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Engineering (RAACS); Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences and Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE); Honor Causa Doctorate (University of NIS).

Visiting Professor and invited lecturer in several American and European Universities; President of the Hellenic Metal Structure Research Society (1983-1987) and of the Hellenic Society of Theoret. And Appl. Mech. (1989-2005); Chairman of several national and international congresses on Metal Structures and on Mechanics; Co-chairman of the 1st and 2nd European Conference on Structural Dynamics (EURODYN, 1990, Bochum, and 1993, Trondheim); Founder (conference chairman and/or steering committee chairman) of the European Conference on Steel Structures (EUROSTEEL, 1995-Athens, 1998-Prague, 2002-Coimbra, 2005-Maastricht); Chairman of sessions on Stability in the World Congresses on Mechanics of IUTAM (Grenoble-1988, Haifa-1992, Chicago-2000); Member of the IUTAM Congress Committee for the World Conference on Mechanics (1994-2004); Vice-president of the National Advisory Council for Research and Technology (1992-1994); Organizer of Intern. Courses on Nonlinear Stability of Structures (e.g. Udine,1992); Member of Edit. Board of various Int. Journals and Books; co-editor of Int. Journals, Facta Universitatis, Series Mechanics, Automatic Control & Robotics; Editor-in Chief of the Open Mechanics Journal

Publications: More than 250 papers in various Int. Journals with more than 1000 citations; Author of 7 books on Appl. Mech., Steel Structures, Struct. Dynamics, Nonlinear static and Dynamic Stability, Calculus of Variations etc.

Professional activities:Structural designer of large athletic installations for European Championships (and some of Olympic installations), of industrial large span steel hangars, technical consultant of the Ministry of Public Works and private companies for steel and composite bridges, founder and partner of the 1st Greek company for ready-mixed pumping concrete, etc.Honors:

Golden Cross of the order of Phoenix (state distinction).

Golden Cross of the Higher Commanders of the order of King George 1st (state distinction).

Gold medal: “Société d’ Encouragement au Progrès” (2000).

Honorary Citizen of the State of Tennessee, USA

Honorary member of the Polish Society for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Polish Academy of Sciences (1992).

Highest distinction (Aristion) from the Hellenic Amateur Athletic Association (S.E.G.A.S) for his contribution in Greek Athletics (as former President of S.E.G.A.S, 1994).

Vice-President of the Technical Council of the Academy of Athens (1994).

Vice-President of National Advisory Council for Research & Technology (1992).

Honorary member of the Yugoslav Society of Mechanics (1997).

President of the Natural Sciences Division of the Academy of Athens (2001-2002).

Gold medal (highest distinction) of the Town-Hall of Kallithea (2001).

Professor Dragoslav ŠumaracFaculty of Civil Engineering, University of Belgrade, Serbia

Born August 25, 1955. in Raska, Srebia. Married wife Slavica, son Milos and daughters Tamara and Snadra. Field of interest Theoretical and applied Mechanics (Fracture and Damage Mechanics, Plasticity, Thermoelasticity) and Energy efficiency of buildings.

Education:Ph.D. University of Illinois at Chicago, USA 1985-87. Major Theoretical and Applied Mechanics-Damage mechanics. M. Sc. University of Belgrade, Civil Engineering. Major: Thermoelasticity. B.SC. 1974-79, University of Belgrade with Dipl. Eng. degree of 5 years. Major: Structures.

Honors:Special Award Recognition of Belgrade Association of Investors for Multifunctional Electrochemical cell (with Lidija Rafailovic, Branimir Grgur and Tomislav Trisovic) 2008. Prize of the Assembly of the City of Belgrade for research: "20 October" (with prof. D. Krajcinovic for the book "Elements of Fracture Mechanics ", 1990. Prize of the Chamber of the City of Belgrade for Master’s degree work, 1984. Prize "Dr R. Stojanovic" for the best paper, YU Congress of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Vrnjacka Banja 1988.

Professional Membership:Member of European Structural Integrity Society. Member and founder of Serbian Chamber of Engineers. Member of Serbian Society of Solil Mechanic and Foundations.

Design experience:Responsible designer for more than 25 projects for steal and concrete structures.

Professor Igor EmriCenter for Experimental Mechanics University of Ljubljana, and Institute for Sustainable Innovative Technologies, Slovenia

Born May 22, 1952 in Murska Sobota; Doctor of Technical Sciences (University of Ljubljana/California Institute of Technology, 1981), Chair Professor of Mechanics, and the Chairman of the Institute for Sustainable Innovative Technologies .

Areas of Specialization: Mechanics of time-dependent materials. Linear and non-linear viscoelasticity. Effect of temperature, pressure and humidity on mechanical properties of polymers and composites. Fatigue and fracture mechanics of polymers and composites. General and polymer rheology. Polymer processing, composite manufacturing and processing. New experimental methods. Dynamic and static analysis of materials and structures. Multifunctional and intelligent materials. Adaptronics.

Main Engineering and Professional Accomplishments:

Professor Emri has developed an innovative theoretical-experimental approach to studying the interrelation between the macroscopic thermo-mechanical boundary conditions and the rate of structural rearrangement which is related to the mechanical spectrum. He has developed several unique, specially designed apparatuses for characterization of time-dependent behavior of materials. Among them the high-pressure apparatus for experimental studying of the simultaneous effects of pressure and temperature on the structure formation and non-linear behavior of polymeric materials is probably the most important. The non-linear viscoelastic model Knauss-Emri, the Emri-Tschoegl algorithm for the evaluation of mechanical spectra, and the high-pressure apparatus represent a unique tool for studying the interrelation between the so-called initial molecular kinetics (determined with the molecular mass distribution and topology of molecular chains), the thermo-mechanical boundary conditions, and the macroscopic properties of polymer materials. In collaboration with BASF, this experimental-theoretical approach was used in the development of new generation nano-structured polymers, which were named the I-Polymers (where I stands for intelligent). The invention was patented world-wide. These nano-structured materials exhibit orders of magnitude different physical properties than the chemically identical conventional polymers.

Member of the International Committee on Rheology, since 1989; Member of the Executive Board of the Society for Experimental Mechanics, 1995-1997.; Member of the European Committee on Rheology, since 1996.; Chairman of the Technical Divisions Council, The Society for Experimental Mechanics, 1996-1997; Vice-President, The Society for Experimental Mechanics, USA, 1997-1998; President Elect, The Society for Experimental Mechanics, USA, 1998-1999; President of The Society for Experimental Mechanics, USA, 1999-2000. Member of the Scientific Alliance Wissenschaftlicher Arbeitskreis der Universitäts-Professoren der Kunststofftechnik, 2002; Expert Evaluator for the European Framework Programs: FP4, FP5 and FP6; Member of the Executive Council of the European Society of Rheology, 2005-; Chairman of the National (Slovenian) Research Council of Technology, 2006-; Co-Founder of the European Graduate School in Enginering Rheology – EURHEO (Includes 14 EU Universities), 2007- Professional Recognition (Honors, Awards, Prizes, etc.): ′Boris Kidric Foundation′ National Award for Research Achievements in Mechanics of Polymers, Slovenia, 1983; ′Rastko Stojanovic′ Award, Yugoslav Society for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Beograd, 1986; Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Engineering (former USSR Academy of Engineering), Russia, 1995; “Section of the Year Award”, Society for Experimental Mechanics (together with other members of CEM), USA, 1996; Full Member (Academician) of the Russian Academy of Engineering, Russia, 1996. Associate Member of The Slovenian Academy of Engineering, Slovenia, 1996; Kapitsa Medal (together with W.K. Knauss, CalTech, USA), Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Moscow, Russia, 1997; Full Member (fellow) of The Slovenian Academy of Engineering, Slovenia, 1998; Listed in “Who’s Who in Polymers and Plastics”, 1999; Award “Outstanding Engineer of the Russian Federation”, Russian Academy of Engineering, 2001; Award Ambassador of Science of the Republic of Slovenia, 2001; Associate Member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, May, 2005; Full Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, March, 2006; SEM Fellow, 2009. Full Member (Fellow) of the European Academy of Sciences, May, 2010.

Professor Endre SüliMathematical Institute, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Endre Süli is Professor of Numerical Analysis in the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford; Fellow and Tutor in Mathematics at Worcester College, Oxford; and Supernumerary Fellow of Linacre College, Oxford.

He was educated at the University of Belgrade and, as a British Council Visiting Student, at the University of Reading and St Catherine′s College, Oxford. His research is concerned with the mathematical analysis of numerical algorithms for nonlinear partial differential equations.

Endre Süli is Foreign Member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (2009). He was invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Madrid in 2006, and was Chair of the Society for the Foundations of Computational Mathematics (2002-2005). He is a recipient of an Oxford University Teaching Award for excellence in and commitment to teaching (2009).

Alfio Quarteroni is Director of the Chair of Modelling and Scientific Computing at the EPFL, Lausanne, since 1998 and Professor of Numerical Analysis at the Politecnico di Milano, since 1989. He is Scientific Director of MOX, Politecnico di Milano, since 2002 and Director of MATHICSE and CADMOS at EPFL since 2009.

Previously, he has been Head of the Scientific Research Division of Center for Research and Advanced Studies, Sardinia, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Professor of Numerical Analysis at the Catholic University of Brescia, and Researcher at the Istituto di Analisi Numerica of the C.N.R., Pavia (Italy).

He is author of 20 books, editor of 6 books, author of more than 200 papers, member of the editorial board of 20 Journals and editor in chief of 2 Book Series. He has been an invited speaker in more than 200 Conferences and Academic Departments.

He is member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (Italian Academy of Sciences), 2004, member of the Lombard Academy of Science, 1995, recipient of the Galileian Chair, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, 2001, recipient of the Laurea Honoris Causa in Naval Engineering from the University of Trieste, 2003, recipient of the NASA Group Achievement Award, 1992, of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Outstanding Paper Prize 2004, Fanfullino della Riconoscenza 2006, Lodi, Premio Capo d’Orlando 2006, SIAM Fellow, 2009, plenary lecturer at ICM2006, recipient of an ERC advanced grant in 2008.

His research field is the numerical approximation of partial differential equations and its applications to Medicine, Sports, the Environment, and Technology. His research group has carried out the numerical model and simulation for the twice winning America’s Cup sayling yacht Alinghi in 2003 and 2007.

Professor Steven P. NolanSchool of Chemistry at the University of St Andrews, Scotland

Steven P. Nolan was born in Canada. He received his B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of West Florida and his Ph.D. from the University of Miami where he worked under the supervision of Professor Carl D. Hoff. After a postdoctoral stay with Professor Tobin J. Marks at Northwestern University, he joined the Department of Chemistry of the University of New Orleans in 1990. In 2006, he joined the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ) as group leader and ICREA Research Professor. In early 2009, he joined the School of Chemistry at the University of St Andrews where he holds the Chair in Inorganic Chemistry.

His work has principally focused on the study of organometallic complexes and their uses in homogeneous catalysis. His group has developed novel complexes bearing N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands enabling numerous catalytic transformations. He has published some 350 research articles on these topics.

Among recent honors he was awarded the 2007 Royal Society of Chemistry Homogeneous Catalysis Award and most recently the 2009 Royal Society of Chemistry Organometallic Chemistry Award.

Yurii Lozovik is Head of Laboratory of Spectroscopy of Nanostructures in the Institute for Spectroscopy and also Professor of Physics in Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology – Technological University. He is one of the leading experts in nanostructures, NEMS and low-dimensional systems .

He published more than 500 papers (including reviews and collective monographs) devoted to nanostructures, low-dimensional electron systems, nanotechnology, nanooptics, different aspects of solid state physics, atomic and cluster physics, quantum electrodynamics in a cavity and ultrafast and near field optics . His papers received about 4000 citations in the literature.

He was co-chairman of Moscow Union of Scientists.

He was tutor more than 35 PhD theses. He has Russian State Fellowship for Outstanding Scientists.

Yu.Lozovik has been a member of the organizing committees of many international scientific conferences.

Yu. Lozovik is member of Editorial Boards of Journals : “Solid State Communications”, "International Journal of Applied Chemistry, “Nanostructures. Mathematical Physics and Modelling”.

Jean-Claude Gérard was born near Liège, Belgium, in 1946. He studied physics at the University of Liège, where he obtained a Ph.D. in aeronomy in 1974 and a D.Sc. in 1986. He spent two years at the University of Colorado in Boulder (Colorado) as a postdoctoral fellow where he analyzed observations obtained with the Pioneer Venus probe orbiting Venus. He obtained a permanent position with the Belgian Fund For Scientific Research (FNRS) in 1976. He was appointed as a professor at the University of Liège in 1993 where he developed the Laboratoire de Physique Atmosphérique et Planétaire (LPAP) which he has been heading since then. He is currently Research Director of the Belgian Fund For Scientific Research (FNRS) and extraordinary professor of Atmospheric and Space Physics at Université de Liège. From 2001 to 2009, he was elected chairman of the Department of Astrophysics, Geophysics and Oceanography where he is now deputy chairman. He has served on several national and international scientific committees such as the Hubble Space Telescope Solar System panel and the Solar System Working Group of the European Space Agency (1990-1993) and has been a member of the organizing committees of several international scientific bodies. He is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics and Academia Europaea. He was co-editor of the European “Annales Geophysicae” journal from 1992 to 1995.

His research interests are broadly spread over various fields such as atmospheric physics, aeronomy, planetary atmospheres, auroral physics and atmospheric evolution. They also include modeling aspects of the global carbon cycle and the response of vegetation to climatic changes. J.-C. Gérard has been involved in the analysis of measurements from several space missions. He was Guest Investigator of the Pioneer Venus mission (NASA), Co-Investigator of the ASSI experiment on board the SAN MARCO-5 satellite, P-I and Co-I of several Hubble Space Telescope planetary programs, Co-I of the FUV auroral imaging instrument on board the IMAGE satellite (NASA). He is Supporting Investigator of the Venus Express ESA mission, Co-I of the Mars Express-SPICAM and Venus Express-SPICAV instruments, and team member of the future JUNO mission to Jupiter. He engaged scientific collaborations with many colleagues from a large number of universities and research laboratories around the world.

J.-C. Gérard has developed an expertise in observation and modeling of the interaction between the solar and corpuscular emission of the Sun and planetary atmospheres, including the Earth. He has also demonstrated the importance of non-thermal atoms in upper planetary atmospheres and identified signatures of their presence in different conditions. He discovered the presence of an equatorial ultraviolet glow caused by a belt of magnesium ions in the Earth’s ionosphere. In the recent years, he focused his interest on the morphological and spectral characterization of the polar aurora observed near the poles of Jupiter and Saturn. In contrast to the earlier paradigm associating the Jovian aurora with the magnetic footprint of the plasma torus surrounding Jupiter, he showed that the emission is caused by precipitation of energetic electrons from a much larger planetary distance. He also discovered that the morphology of the bright spots mapping the moon Io along the Jovian magnetic field depends on location of Io along its orbit. He is also playing an active role in the Venus Express mission of ESA where he investigates non-thermal emissions of the Venus and uses them as a tool to probe the chemical composition and dynamics of the upper atmosphere. Jean-Claude Gérard has published 255 original scientific papers, mostly in peer-reviewed international journals. He has presented a large number of communications at international scientific assemblies and colloquia. His work has been awarded with several prizes.

Professor Serge HarocheLaboratoire Kastler Brossel at ENS, France

Serge Haroche, born in 1944, graduated from Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS), getting in 1971 his PhD (supervised by Claude Cohen-Tannoudji). After a post-doctoral visit to Stanford in Arthur Schawlow’s laboratory (1972-73), he became professor at Paris VI University, a position he held until 2001, when he was appointed professor at Collège de France. He has been Maitre de Conference at Ecole Polytechique (1974-1984), visiting professor at Harvard (1981), part time professor at Yale (1984-1993), member of Institut Universitaire de France (1991-2000) and chairman of the ENS Physics Department (1994-2000). His research has mostly taken place in laboratoire Kastler Brossel at ENS, where he works in the field of cavity quantum electrodynamics and quantum information with a team of senior coworkers, postdocs and graduate students.

Serge Haroche’s awards include the Ricard Prize of the French Physical Society, the Einstein Prize for Laser Science, the Humbold Award, the Michelson Medal from the Franklin Institute, the Tomassoni Award from La Sapienza University, the Quantum Electronics prize of the European Physical Society, the Quantum Communication Award of the International Organization for Quantum Communication, Measurement and Computing, the Townes Award of the Optical Society of America (OSA) the Walther Award of the OSA and German Physical Society and the 2009 CNRS Gold Medal. He is a member of the French Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

Professor Karl SigmundFaculty for Mathematics University of Vienna, Austria

Born 1945 in Lower Austria, studies of mathematics in Vienna, PhD 1963, postdoc years in Manchester, Paris and Jerusalem, 1973 associate professor in Göttingen, since 1974 full professor at the University of Vienna, since 1984 part time affiliated with the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg. Work in ergodic theory and dynamical systems, biomathematics (population ecology, population genetics) and evolutionary game theory.

Author of several books including ‘Evolutionary Games and Population Dynamics’ (with Josef Hofbauer), ‘Games of Life’, ‘The Gödel Album’ and ‘The Calculus of Selfishness’. Member of the Austrian and German Academies of Science.

Professor Mats Gyllenberg Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Helsinki, Finland

Mats Gyllenberg was born in Helsinki, Finland in 1955. He studied mathematics and microbiology at the Helsinki University of Technology, where he received his Diploma in 1980 and doctorate (Doctor of Technology) in 1987. He was full Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Lulea University of Technology (Sweden) 1989 - 1993, University of Turku (Finland) 1992 - 2004 and since 2004 at the University of Helsinki, where he is now Head of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. He is the leader of the Biomathematics Research Group of the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Analysis and Dynamics.

Professor Gyllenberg was a visiting researcher at the Mathematical Centre in Amsterdam in 1984-1985 and visiting professor at Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tennessee) 1985-1986, National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (Santa Barbara, California) 1996, Chalmers University of Technology 1998. In 2006 he held the F.C. Donders Visiting Chair of Mathematics at the University of Utrecht.

Professor Gyllenberg is a leading figure in Mathematical Biology. He has very broad research interests ranging from structured population dynamics with applications to ecology and evolution, adaptive dynamics, physiological models to mathematical taxonomy. He has a truely interdisciplinary approach to science and collaborates actively with biologists, microbiologists and medical doctors.

Professor Gyllenberg is the author of two books and more than 200 research papers. He is the Editor in Chief of Journal of Mathematical Biology and Differential Equations and Applications. He is a member of the Editorial Boards of Journal of Biological Dynamics, International Journal of Biomathematics, and Communications in Applied and Industrial Mathematics.
He has served on the scientific committee of more than 40 leading international conferences.

Professor Gyllenberg was the President of the European Society for Mathematical and Theoretical Biology in 2002-2005. Since 2006 he has been the President of the Finnish Mathematical Society and since 2009 the Chairman of the Standing Committee for Physical and Engineering Sciences of the European Science Foundation.

Professor Gyllenberg is an elected member of the following learned societies: Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, The Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters, Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences in Finland.

Michael Griebel was born in Augsburg, Germany, in 1960. He studied Computer Science at the Technische Universität München where he received his Diplom in 1985, the Dr. rer. nat. in 1989 and the Habilitation in 1993. Since then he is a full Professor for Numerical Simulation at the University of Bonn. He was a Visiting Professor at the University of California at San Diego, at the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics of the University of California, Los Angeles, USA, at the University Paris VII Diderot, France, and at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. He also was an International Fellow of the Australian Research Council (ARCIF).

He is presently the Director of the Institute for Numerical Simulation at the University of Bonn and the Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing (SCAI) in St. Augustin. Furthermore, he is the Speaker of the Collaborative Research Center SFB611 “Singular phenomena and scaling in mathematical models” and a member of Hausdorff Center for Mathematics (Cluster of Excellence) at the University of Bonn where he heads the research area J on “High-dimensional problems and multi-scale methods“.

He is the author of seven books and more than 150 articles in international journals, series- and conference-proceedings and he serves on the editorial board of Springer′s “Lecture Notes in Computational Science and Engineering” and “Texts in Computational Science and Engineering”. Furthermore, he edited nine books in the area of the Computational Sciences and he is the managing editor of the journal “Numerische Mathematik”.

Professor Hans Peter Langtangen Center for Biomedical Computing, Simula Research Laboratory, and Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway

Hans Petter Langtangen was born in Oslo, Norway, in 1962. He did his studies at the University of Oslo, with a master′s degree in 1985 and a Ph.D. degree in 1989, both in mechanics at the Department of Mathematics. He then took up a position as researcher at SINTEF, one of Europe′s largest institutions for industrial research. From 1991 he was hired as assistant professor of fluid mechanics at the University of Oslo, working both at the University and SINTEF for several years. After being promoted to full professor of mechanics at the Department of Mathematics in 1998, he accepted a professorship in mathematical modeling and software at the Department of Informatics in 1999. In the period 1999-2002 he also held an adjunct professor position at the Department of Scientific Computing at Uppsala University in Sweden. The Simula Research Laboratory was formed in 2001, and Langtangen has since then worked with scientific computing research at this laboratory, being on 80% leave from his position as professor at the University of Oslo. In 2007, Langtangen′s group was awarded a Norwegian Center of Excellence for 2007-2017 (the largest type of research grant in Norway). This center, called Center for Biomedical Computing (http://simula.no/cbc), is directed by Langtangen and hosted by Simula Research Laboratory.

Langtangen′s research is inter-disciplinary and involves continuum mechanical modeling, applied mathematics, stochasticity, and scientific computing, with applications to biomedicine and geoscience in particular. He has also been occupied with developing and distributing scientific software to make the research results more widely accessible and help accelerating research elsewhere.

Langtangen is on the editorial board of 7 journals, including Advances in Water Resources, BIT Numerical Mathematics, SIAM Journal on Scientific Computing, and the recently established Journal of Computational Science. He has also been a member of over 15 scientific committees at conferences and organized many minisyposia and workshops at conferences. The software package Diffpack (developed by Langtangen and co-workers in the 1990s, commercialized in 1997 and now managed by the German company inuTech GmbH) has been used at universities like Cambridge, Cornell, and Stanford, and in companies such as DaimlerChrysler, Intel, and Mitsubishi.

Langtangen′s deep involvement with teaching has resulted in 10 new university courses, besides several short courses at other universities and for industry. He has supervised over 60 master students and over 15 Ph.D. students. Langtangen has earned 5 research and teaching awards from SINTEF, Simula, and the University of Oslo.

Professor Risto Nieminen Computational Nanoscience center of excellence at the Laboratory of Physics, Helsinki University of Technology (HUT), Finland

Risto Nieminen was born in 1948 in Helsinki, Finland. He did his undergraduate and doctoral studies at Helsinki University of Technology and Cambridge University, and obtained the D.Sc. (Tech) degree in 1975.

He was a post-doctoral researcher at NORDITA, Copenhagen in 1975-79, and was appointed Associate Professor of Physics at University of Jyväskylä, Finland, in 1978. In 1979-1980 and 1986-1987 he was Visiting Professor at Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University, USA. In 1987 he was appointed as associate professor at Helsinki University of Technology and promoted to full professor in 1994. During 1989-1996 he served as the Scientific Director of the Center for Scientific Computing (CSC), the national center for high-performance computing in Finland.

During 1997-2008 Risto Nieminen had the title of Academy Professor, working at Helsinki University of Technology (TKK). In 2010, this university merged with Helsinki School of Economics (HSE) and University of Art and Design (TAIK) to form the Aalto University. Risto Nieminen was appointed the first Aalto Distinguished Professor in 2010.

The research area of Risto Nieminen is computational and theoretical physics, especially applied to materials and nanoscience research. He is the leader of the national Center of Excellence for Computational Nanoscience (COMP), funded by the Academy of Finland for 2000-2011. COMP has more than 70 researchers in seven groups, and covers nanoscience and nanotechnology research over a wide range of topics, from atomic-scale and electronic-structure calculations to surface science, quantum computing and devices, statistical physics and complex matter, and to biological physics. He is also the Principal Investigator in a joint “open innovation” nanoscience and nanotechnology research programme with Nokia Corporation.

Risto Nieminen has supervised 55 graduate students to date, and is the chairman of the National Graduate School in Materials Physics since 1994. He has been the host to 35 post-doctoral fellows and numerous visitors.

Risto Nieminen has published 420 original and 67 review articles, which have received nearly 14,000 citations (h-index 61). He serves on the editorial boards of several journals and book series, including the Lecture Notes in Computational Science and Engineering (LNCSE) series of Springer, and Journal of Physics CM: Condensed Matter of Institute of Physics (IOP). He was also the founding editor of Computational Materials Science of Elsevier.

Risto Nieminen has served in numerous international organisations, including the CERN Council, International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) committees, European Science Foundation, European Research Council, and European Union committees and panels. He is presently in the Fachbeirat of the Fritz-Haber-Institute of the Max-Planck Society, and in the Scientific Advisory Boards of the Thomas Young Centre (London), Center for Computational Materials Science (Vienna), Center for Atomic-Scale Materials Design (Copenhagen), and the European Theoretical Spectroscopy Facility (Leuven). He as carried out evaluation and refereeing duties extensively, including many national research funding bodies and organisations, scientific journals, as well as appointment committees for numerous universities.

Risto Nieminen is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Finnish Cultural Foundation and Oskar Huttunen Foundation, and serves on the Board of Instrumentarium Foundation and Innovation Foundation. He is the present chairman of the Millennium Prize Selection Committee. He also chairs the Committee for Public Information in Finland, as well as the United World College Committee.

Risto Nieminen has been visiting scholar and fellow in many universities worldwide, including University of Cambridge, Korea Advanced Institute for Science and Technology, Catholic University of Chile, Curtin University of Technology (Australia), University of Bahia Blanca (Argentina) and University of California at Santa Barbara.

Risto Nieminen is member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences and Letters and Finnish Academy of Technology. He is a Fellow of American Physical Society (1994) and Institute of Physics (UK) (2000). He was nominated Outstanding Referee by American Physical Society in 2007. He was awarded as Professor of the Year in Finland in 2004.

Guido Kroemer is currently a Research Director at the French Medical Research Council (INSERM), and the Director of the Research Unit "Apoptosis, Cancer and Immunity" in Paris, France. Prior to joining the INSERM (1993), Dr. Kroemer was Senior Scientist of the European Community at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), at the National Center of Molecular Biology (1990-1992) and at the National Center of Biotechnology (1993). Dr. Kroemer did his post-doctoral training in the Collège de France, Nogent-sur-Marne (1988-1989) and at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, after receiving his Ph.D/M.D. degree at the same University in 1985. He also holds a Ph.D. degree in Biology (Autonomous University of Madrid, 1992).

Dr. Guido Kroemer has made important contributions to medical research through his groundbreaking work in the fields of cell biology and cancer research. He is best known for the discovery that the permeabilization of mitochondrial membranes constitutes a decisive step in programmed cell death. Kroemer has explored the fine mechanisms of mitochondrial cell death control, the molecular pathways that explain the inhibition of cell death in cancer cells, upstream of or at the level of mitochondria, and the mechanisms that make cancer cell death immunogenic. His work has had far reaching implications for the comprehension, detection and therapeutic manipulation of cellular demise.

His contributions have been recognized with numerous awards, including the prestigious Descartes Prize of the European Union, the Carus Medal of the German Academy of Sciences, the Grand Prix Mergier-Bourdeix of the French Academy of Sciences, the Lucien Dautrebande Prize of the Belgian Royal Academy of Sciences, the Gallet & Breton Prize of the French Academy of Medicine and others. He currently serves on more than thirty Editorial Boards. These include EMBO Journal, EMBO Reports, Cancer Research, Oncogene and Cell Death & Differentiation. Kroemer is also the Editor-in-Chief of Cell Death & Disease. A prolific scholar, he has more than 550 scientific publications with about 45,000 citations. He is currently the most cited scientist worldwide in the field of cell death as well as in the area of mitochondrial research. He has delivered numerous keynote addresses at symposia internationally.

He is member of EMBO, German Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), Academia Europaea, European Academy of Sciences (EAS) and European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA). He is the President elect of the European Cell Death Organization (ECDO) and the Founding Director of the European Research Institute for Integrated Cellular Pathology (ERI-ICP).

Günter Schmid was born in 1937 in Villingen, Germany. After visiting the primary school in Bräunlingen he changed to the secondary school in Donaueschingen. In 1957 he finished his school education with the “Abitur” to begin the study of Chemistry at the Ludwig Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich. He received the title “Diplomchemiker” in 1962, followed by the doctoral thesis in Inorganic Chemistry under the supervisor Professor Dr. Heinrich Nöth. It was finished in 1965. In 1966 Günter Schmid changed to the Philipps-Universität Marburg where he startet his Habilitation which was finished in 1969. Subject of this work was the synthesis and investigation of boron-metal compounds which have not been known up to there. Of special interest was the comparison of C2 units with the isoelectronic BN group in various organic compounds, used as ligands in transition metal complexes. Two years later Günter Schmid got a professorship at the same University. From 1975 – 1976 he was the Dean of the Chemical Faculty in Marburg. During these years he continued the boron-metal chemistry, but also began to investigate possibilities to stabilize unstable molecules as ligands in metal complexes. At the same time smaller transition metal clusters came into the focus of his interests, among others gold clusters. These species determined later the main part of Professor Schmid’s scientific work.

In 1963 he married Ludowika Seemann, the two children Ulrich and Gabriele were born in Marburg in 1968 and 1969.

In 1977 he followed a call on the chair for Inorganic Chemistry at the new University of Essen, where he acted as the Director of the Institute for Inorganic Chemistry until 2002. In 1982 he worked as Guest Professor at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).

During the 25 years at the University of Essen Professor Schmid occupied various academic positions. From 1987-1988 he acted as Dean of the Chemical Faculty. In 1980 he became a member of the Senate and from 1988-1992 he acted as a member of the Rectorate of the University, responsible Research and Teaching.

Scientifically the activities in Essen were dominated by cluster chemistry. Noble metal clusters, their synthesis, physical and chemical properties were the main themes of Professor Schmid’s research. Fundamental findings, concerning the transition from metallic bulk state to quantum-size behaviour, important with respect to future electronic storage systems. determined most of his scientific activity from 1980 on. This work has been awarded with the “Innovation Award 2000” of Nordrhein-Westfalen and in 2003 with the “Wilhelm Klemm-Award” of the German Chemical Society (Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker, GdCh).

Professor Schmid organized numerous German and European research projects and acted as elected referee of the German Science Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) for many years. After his retirement from the chair for Inorganic Chemistry in 2002, he continued scientific research in collaboration with other groups in Essen and at the RWTH Aachen. There, he is still active in a research program of DFG, considering the interaction of metal nanoparticles with biological systems. Of special interest is the surprising activity of very small gold nanoparticles. A 1.4 nm gold particle turned out to be extremely cell toxic, especially towards human cancer cell lines.

Professor Schmid published about 350 original scientific papers, edited five books on nanoparticles and nanotechnology, gave more than 300 invited lectures and still acts as a member of several editorial boards of international journals. Since 1996 Prof. Schmid is a member of the Europäische Akademie zur Erforschung von Folgen wissenschaftlich-technischer Entwicklungen, Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler.

Elio Giamello is full professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Torino. At the same University he is presently, Director of the PhD School in Science and High Technology. After some experiences in a company and abroad (Institut des Recherches sur la Catalyse, CNRS Villeurbanne, France) he started to work in the field of solid state and surface chemistry. He had a one-year post doctoral experience in Paris VI University in the group of Prof. Michel Che. In the same University he covered, later, the position of invited professor for one month both in 1994 and 2005.

In 2007 Elio Giamello has been elected the recipient of an Humboldt Research Award by the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung, Germany, for his scientific activity in the field of surface chemistry.

Elio Giamello is active, since the early eighties, in the field of Chemistry and Surface Chemistry of metal oxides with particular emphasis on the applications of Electron Paramagnetic Resonance spectroscopy (EPR) to this field. Focus of his interest are the paramagnetic centres at the surface (surface defects, reactive intermediates, transition metal centres) and in the bulk of bare oxides, doped oxides and mixed oxides. Such centres are investigated in order to better understand their role in determining the chemical properties (e.g. chemisorption, catalysis), the magnetic properties and the optical properties of the material. A peculiar attention in recent years has been devoted to the problem of visible light harvesting by doped semiconductors in order to allow the use of solar light in photocatalysis.

Elio Giamello is Co-Author or Author of 210 papers on Journals, Books, Periodicals. His papers received about 5000 citations in the literature (source: ISI-Web of Science) leading to an Hirsh index (or H-index) of 36.

Prof. Francesc Illas was born in Barcelona in 1954 at carried out his chemistry degree studies and Ph. D Thesis at the Universitat de Barcelona where after several appointments’, including the Chemistry Faculty in Tarragona and the Pharmacy faculty in Barcelona, he became Full Professor (Catedrático de Química Física) in 1992.

Apart from the main research activity, he has also been involved with university organization as secretary of the Chemistry Faculty of the University of Barcelona at Tarragona (1983-1985); Secretary of the CeRQT (Research Center for Theoretical Chemistry) of the University of Barcelona (1999-2001); Director of the CeRQT (Research Center for Theoretical Chemistry) of the University of Barcelona (2001-2007); Director of the Institute of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry of the University of Barcelona (IQTCUB) (2008-now) and Director of the Xarxa d’I+D+I de Referencia de Quimica Teòrica i Computacional de Catalunya, 2006-now. He also collaborates in the Editorial Board of several scientific journals such International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2000-2006 and 2008-now); Electronic Journal of Mathematical and Physical Sciences (2002-now); International Journal of Applied Chemistry (2005-now); The Open Catalysis Journal (2008-now) and of Research Letters in Physical Chemistry (2009-now)

He has published ~ 390 scientific papers in scientific journals and ~ 20 book chapters which overall received ~ 7300 citations in the period 1981-2009 conferring him with an H-index of 41, he has given over 80 invited lectures and seminars and in 2001 received the Distinguished Professor Mention for the Research Promotion awarded by the Generalitat de Catalunya (Spain) and in 2004 the Bruker Physical Chemistry Research Award of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry.

His main research activities can be broadly described as electronic structure of surfaces and materials using the computational methods of Quantum Chemistry of Solid State Physics. In particular, electronic structure of metal clusters and nanoparticles, theory of chemisorption and surface chemistry, molecular mechanisms in heterogeneous catalysis, magnetic coupling in ionic solids and the interpretation of optical, vibrational and photoemission spectra in solids and on surfaces.

Professor Helge HoldenDepartement of Mathematical Sciences, University of Science and technology, Trondheim, Norway

Helge Holden was born in Oslo, Norway, in 1956. He did his undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Oslo, and he obtained the dr. philos. degree in mathematics in 1985.

With a Fulbright and ``Thanks to Scandinavia ” scholarship he then went to Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University for a one year postdoctoral position. Upon returning to Norway he accepted a position as Associate Professor at the Norwegian Institute of Technology, University of Trondheim. In 1991 he was promoted to his current position as full professor at the same institution, which in 1996 changed its name to Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Currently he holds an adjunct position at the Centre of Mathematics for Applications, University of Oslo.

Holden’s research area is partial differential equations. His interests cover pure research as well as applications. The applications have mostly been to flow in porous media. His first work was in mathematical quantum mechanics, resulting in the monograph (joint with S. Albeverio, F. Gesztesy. R. Høegh-Krohn) ``Solvable Models in Quantum Mechanics’’, Springer 1988 (2nd edition Chelsea Publishing, 2005). He went on to work in stochastic analysis, see H. Holden, J. Ubøe, B. Øksendal, T.S. Zhang ``Stochastic Partial Differential Equation’’, Birkhauser, 1996 (2nd edition, Springer, 2009). Furthermore, Holden has worked on hyperbolic conservation laws, see H. Holden and N. H. Risebro ``Front Tracking for Hyperbolic Conservation Laws, 2nd printing, Springer 2007. With F. Gesztesy Holden has worked on completely integrable systems, resulting in the two volume treatise ``Soliton Equations and Their Algebro-Geometric Solutions’’, ``Vol. I. (1+1)-Dimensional Continuous Models’’, Cambridge UP, 2003, and ``Vol. II. (1+1)-Dimensional Discrete Models’’, Cambridge UP, 2008 (joint also with J. Michor and G. Teschl). In addition, Holden has published internationally more than 100 scientific papers. He has supervised more than 15 PhD students.

Holden has been actively involved with international scientific organizations. He served as President of ECMI, European Consortium for Mathematics in Industry (2004-06), and was Secretary (2003-06) and Vice President (2007-10) of the European Mathematical Society.

Holden has served in many different positions at the NTNU, including Chairman of the Department (1990-92), member of the Board of the Faculty (several periods), and member of the Board at NTNU (2009-13).

Holden has chaired several committees of the Research Council of Norway, e.g., Chair of the eScience program (2009-11), the BeMatA (Computational Mathematics in Applications) program (2000-06), and the SUNT (research grants in fundamental science) program (2000-06).

With Prof. Karlsen has organized a special year on Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations (2008-09) at the Centre for Advanced Study of the Norwegian Academy in Science and Letters, Oslo. Together with Profs. Karlsen and Constantin Holden organized a semester on Wave Motion at Institute Mittag-Leffler in Stockholm, Sweden.

Holden has participated in several evaluations of research and teaching in mathematics, e.g., Aalborg University, Denmark, the Technical University of Denmark, and Uppsala University.

Holden is elected fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters, and the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences.

Professor Michel Chipot University of Zurich, Switzerland

Since 1995, Michel Chipot has been a professor at the University of Zurich.

He graduated in 1981 (these d′etat) at the University of Paris VI under the supervision of H. Brezis.

He was a visiting professor in various places and for long periods at Brown University (1981-82), the University of Maryland (1983-84), the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications and the University of Minnesota, (1984-85, 1990,1992), Carnegie Mellon University (1987).

He was the organiser of more than 40 international meetings. Among them the Metz Days, the European Conferences on Elliptic and Parabolic Problems of which he is also the founder.

He is the editor of 17 books of proceedings and editor of the handbook of differential equation (Stationary Partial Differential Equations, 6 Volumes) and the author of more than 150 articles and 5 books.

Gautam R. Desiraju, has been in the University of Hyderabad since 1979, and has played a major role in the development and growth of the subject of crystal engineering. He is noted for gaining acceptance for the theme of weak hydrogen bonding among chemists and crystallographers. His books on crystal engineering (Elsevier, 1989) and the weak hydrogen bond in structural chemistry and biology (OUP, 1999) are particularly well known. He is one of the most highly cited Indian scientists with more than 300 research papers, 14000 citations and an h-index of 50. He has won international awards such as the Alexander von Humboldt Forschungspreis and the TWAS award in Chemistry. He has guided the Ph. D work of more than 30 students. Additionally, he has edited three multi-author books in solid state and supramolecular chemistry. He is a consulting editor for Accounts of Chemical Research, a member of the International Editorial Advisory Board of Angewandte Chemie, a member of the Executive Committee of the International Union of Crystallography and the chair of the first Gordon Research Conference in Crystal Engineering, which will be held in 2010.

Nikita Morozov is a professor at the State University of St.-Petersburg since 1971, being the Head and chair of the Elasticity department. Nikita Morozov is also a professor at the Institute of Problems in Mechanical Engineering of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St.-Petersburg, Russia. Since 2000 he is a full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).

Nikita Morozov was born year 1932 at St.-Petersburg, Russia. He received his first academic degrees (M.Sc., 1954, Ph.D., 1958, Dr. Sc., 1967) from St.-Petersburg State University. 1994 he became the corresponding member of RAS and year 2000 he was elected to become the full member of RAS.

His research interests are broadly spread over various fields in mechanics. Among this one can mention theory of elasticity and nonlinear mechanics, fracture mechanics, dynamic fracture mechanics, theory of integral equations and nanomechanics, where his main and widely known results are achieved.Nikita Morozov is an author of more than 200 scientific works, including eight monographs.

Major academic positions:

1958-1971: Associate professor, full professor of Leningrad Technological University of Pulp and Paper Industry (currently known as St.-Petersburg State University of Plant Polymers)

1971-current: Professor and Chair of Elasticity at St.-Petersburg State University

1988-current: Professor, chief research fellow of the Institute of Problems in Mechanical Engineering of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Major Prizes:

1943, Medal for Defence of Leningrad

1999, Order of Honour of the Russian Federation

2000, State Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of science and technology

2003, Order for Merit for Country (IV degree)

Major Scientific Posts:

Vice-chairman of the Russian National Committee on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics,

Head of the Scientific Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences on the Mechanics of Deformable Bodies

Member of the editorial boards of various international and Russian journals on mechanics

Member of ESIS

Member of IUTAM General Assembly and IUTAM Congress Committee

Professor Robert V. GoldsteinInstitute for Problems in Mechanics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

Robert Goldstein was born in Moscow on May 7th 1940. He received his M.Sci. degree in mechanics with honours at the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, Lomonosov’s Moscow State University in 1962. He defended PhD. Thesis in Solid Mechanics (“Rayleigh waves and resonance phenomena in elastic bodies” (Supervisors: Prof. G.I.Barenblatt, Prof. R.L.Salganik)) and Dr. Sci. Thesis in Solid Mechanics (“Fracture mechanics of large scale structures”), Institute for Problems in Mechanics, Ac. Sci. of USSR, Moscow in 1962 and 1968, respectively. From 1962-till now he is working in the A.Yu. Ishlinsky Institute for Problems in Mechanics of the Russian Ac. of Sci., Moscow, Russia, from 1988 as Head of the Laboratory on Mechanics of Strength and Fracture of Materials and Structures. From 1983-till now he is also working as Professor in Mechanics and Physics, K.E. Tsiolkovsky Russian State Technological University (1988-till now Head, Chair on Mechanics and Physics of Technological Processes). Soros Professor of Mathematics, from 1994. As a Head of a Scientific School he was awarded with the Grants of the President of the Russian Federation for the leading scientific schools of Russia in 1996, 2000, 2003 and 2006. Robert Goldstein was elected as Corresponding Member of the Russian Ac. of Sci., 2008 and as Fellow Member of the European Ac. of Sci., 2009.

Resonance phenomena in elastic bodies at crack propagation, motion of loads and punches with the velocities close to the Rayleigh velocity were studied. Non-steady stage of the process of the load motion along the half-space boundary was considered and the features of elastic fields which arise when the load velocity tends to the Rayleigh one were analyzed and the non-steady motion asymptotically tends to the steady regime. The resonance near the Rayleigh velocity of the load motion was explained. Resonance phenomena were also studied for the process of an interface crack propagation. A new type of the surface waves propagating along the interface at the conditions of possible separation without slipping of the joined materials was discovered. These waves were later observed at same earthquakes.

The statement of the problem on wedging of the elastic plane with the super–Rayleigh subsonic velocity was given. The analytical solution was obtained (together with Prof. G.I. Barenblatt).

(2) Qualitative methods in elasticity and fracture mechanics

The qualitative methods of elasticity and fracture mechanics were developed. Two-sided and isoperimetric estimates of local and integral characteristics of the solutions of the appropriate 3D-elasticity problems on the plane cracks of complex shapes were obtained. Some estimates of the stress intensity factors for the cracks of complex shapes and sufficient conditions of fracture and non-fracture of structural components containing a crack were obtained. The monograph was written and published together with Prof. V.M. Entov.

(3) Analytical and numerical methods for solving 3D-mixed boundary value problems of elasticity including the problems with unknown boundaries

The effective projection methods were developed for numerical solving the boundary integral equations and minimization of the boundary functions of 3D-problems of crack statics and kinetics. A class of exact analytical solutions of the elasticity problems on the cracks of complex shape in plane were constructed using the inversion transformation. Methods of matched asymptotic expansions were developed for solving the 3D-problems on elongated cracks in an elastic space and layer. The appropriate solutions were obtained. Methods for studying and solving 3D-contact problems accounting for the effects of friction, slipping and sticking, loading history were developed.

(4) Modeling of fracture of materials and structures

A semi-empirical approach to an analysis of fracture of elastoplastic materials was developed. The similarity criteria which enable to determine the fracture toughness of large samples on the basis of testing the appropriate small scale samples and to evaluate fracture conditions of structural components with cracks using the results of testing their diminished models were suggested and realized for low alloy pipeline steels and pressurized components. An approach was suggested for the modeling of fracture and safety of hierarchical systems. Models of ordered brittle and quasi-brittle fracture of materials (media) accounting for their structure, in particular porous and layered, were developed.

(5) Models and methods of micro- and nanomechanics

The studies of strength and longevity of micro- and submicroelectronic devices were performed, including modeling degradation and longevity of multilevel metallization because of stress and electromigration. Modeling of fracture conditions of chip-scale packages fabricated by the flip-chip technology was performed accounting for thermomechanical loading. Within the framework of a thermodynamic approach the modeling of an influence of point defects (vacancies, interstitials and dislocations) on the adhesion characteristics of thin film structures was performed. Modeling of the conditions leading to the formation of hardened getter zones in Si-wafers was performed.

Studies aimed at modeling of deformation, strength and fracture processes in nanomaterials and nanostructured objects were performed. Discrete-continuum models of deformation, defects formation and loss of stability of nanotubes and their systems, graphene plane and their systems were developed. The schemes for mechanical testing of nano- and microscale samples were suggested and calibrated. A generalized model of an atomistic crack was developed and the conditions of applicability of the continuum approach of the crack theory for evaluation of the nanoscale crack growth were determined.

(6) Mechanics of ice and ice cover

An approach was developed for modeling of the processes of ice and ice cover fracture at interaction with icebreakers and ice resistant structures. A model of ridge formation under the action of ice cover compression was suggested and a quantitative measure of ice cover resistance to ridge formation was introduced. A classification of the fracture forms of ice cover at combined action of wind compressive loads and the loads caused by the icebreaker – ice cover interaction were developed. Modeling and evaluation of ice loads on ice-resistant structures in deep water region were performed. Structures of fracture of ice cover under the action of natural loads were analyzed and classified from the fracture mechanics point of view.

PUBLICATIONS

Total-more than 330; in reviewed journals more than 150; communications to scientific meetings: more than 100; books 2; edited books and Special Issues of Int. Scientific Journals 16.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

He is a member of the Editorial Boards of several International and Russian Scientific Journals (International Journal of Fracture, from 1996; Fatigue and Fracture of Engineering Materials and Structures, from 1997; Journal of the Russian Academy of Sciences “Mechanics of Solids”, from 1998; Journal of the Sibirian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Physical Mesomechanics", from 2005; Member of Scientific-Technical Council of JSC “GAZPROM”, from 2005; Executive secretary, Editorial Board of the Journal of the Russian Academy of Sciences “Mechanics of Solids”, from 2006; Journal of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences “Computational mechanics of continuum media”, from 2008).

He was and is still now Member of many Scientific Committies of International and National Conferences (in particular, Sci. Secretary, The First Soviet-American Workshop on the Ice Mechanics and its Applications, Moscow, Russia (1991) Co-Chairman, EUROMECH Colloquium Fracture Aspects in Manufacturing, Moscow, Russia (2000) Co-Chairman, NATO Advanced Research Workshop Surface Waves in Anisotropic and Laminated Bodies and Defects Detection, Moscow, Russia (2002) Co-Chairman, ICF Interquadrennial Conf. on Fracture at Multiple Dimensions, Moscow, Russia (2003) Co-Chairman, ICF Interquadrennial Conf. on Fracture Mechanics in Design of Fracture Resistant Materials and Structures, Moscow, Russia (2007)). He is a Member of several Professional Societies (among them Vice-President (2005-2009), Director (2009-till now) International Congress on Fracture; Scientific Secretary, Scientific Council on Mechanics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (2004-till now); Member, Executive Committee, International Congress on Fracture (2001-2005); Member, Executive Committee, The European Structural Integrity Society (ESIS) (1997-till now); Russian National Committee on the Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (1995); Member, Gesellschaft fur Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik (1991-till now); Member, Int. Society for the Interaction of Mechanics and Mathematics (1990-till now); Deputy - Head of the All-Union (now Russian) Scientific Council of Academy of Sciences on Strength and Plasticity (1985-till now)).

HONOURS, AWARDS

State awards (Honored scientist of the Russian federation, 2008; State Prize of the Russian Federation in Science and Techniques, 2000; Order of Honor, 1999; Medal “For Labor Powers”, 1986). Fellowship: Honorary Fellow of the International Congress on Fracture (1993).

Professor Yves Brechet Technical University of Grenoble INPG, France

Academic curriculum:

Yves Brechet is born in 1961 in France, Europe. He lives in Grenoble and in paris

He did his undergraduate studies at Ecole Polytechnique in Paris then went for his PhD to Grenoble (1984-87). He also holds a master degree in history of sciences (Paris 1984). After a Post doctoral year in McMaster Canada, working with Prof. Embury and Purdy, he went back to Grenoble where he was appointed assistant professor (1988), then full professor just after his habilitation in (1992).

Current positions

His Current position is Professor in Materials Science in The Technical University of Grenoble INPG ( since 1988), Adjunct professor at McMaster University, Canada (Since 1995) and Senior Research Professor at the Institut Universitaire de France (Since 2005). He has supervised more than 60 PhD students.

He is also a Research advisor in Alcan, EDF, Onera, and is a Member of the International Scientific Council of Arcelor-Mittal, and of the scientific council of Atomic Energy Committee in France. He is member of various editorial boards (Mat.Sc.Eng, J.Mod.Comp.Sim.Mat.Sc.) and of the board of governors of Acta Materialia

Research activities

The field of research of Professor Brechet is modelling in materials science, and more specifically in physical metallurgy, with a strong emphasis on structural materials. As such his contributions are at the border between mechanics, physics and chemistry.

His interest go frommicrostructure evolutions in metallic alloys ( precipitation, phase transformation, dislocation structures and stability), to relations between microstructures and mechanical properties (Plasticity and Fracture). In these classical topics of physical metallurgy, he has made important contributions to the modelling of precipitation in aluminium alloys , on the morphological stability of precipitates in Ni based super alloys, on the austenite to ferrite transformation kinetics, on discontinuous precipitation and DIGM, and on multilayers reactions. He has also contributed to the statistical analysis of plastic instabilities, to the theory of work hardening of metals with small grain sizes, or with precipitates, on the development of constitutive equations for creep of industrial alloys, on the nucleation of recrystalliation and on the coupling of recrystallisation, recovery and precipitation. He has also a specific interest for nuclear materials , involving the dynamics of irradiation defects, irradiation hardening and embrittlement, irradiation creep. He has also studied specific effects of coupled mechanical loading and corrosion in nuclear materials.

He has contributed to the application on large scale computer simulations to the collective behaviour of dislocations. He has also been very active in modelling complex problems such as proterties of castings , and optimisation of welding processes, using integrated models of the different physical phenomena.

In the last 15 years, through a continuous collaboration with Professor M.F.Ashby in Cambridge, he has been involved in developing methods for rational materials and process selection, including the use of AI techniques such as fuzzy logic or genetic algorithm. This has led to a new field of activity coupling modelling and materials selection to provide guidelines for “materials by design”. This has been applied to acoustic absorbers, heat insulators, radiant burners, glass design, composite and sandwich optimisation.

More recently, he got interested into “Architectured materials” ( foams, felts, interlocked materials , multilayers) where the geometry is an integral part of materials design. This has led to a number of studies on innovative materials such as partially sintered steel wools, or interlocked materials.

The field of the interface between biology and materials science has also been a topic of interest with close collaborations with Prof Bruckert and Prof Fratzl. More specifically, modelling of diatom formation, of collagen properties, of trabecular bone architecture development, and of cellular adhesion on inert surfaces have been investigated, in close relation with experiments.

Publications:

Professor Bréchet is co-author of more than 500 research papers ( in journals and conferences) in the field of mechanical properties of metals and alloys, phase transformation, process modelling, materials and process selection methods, and mechanisms of bioadhesion.

He is Co Author of 2 books ( « Treatise on Metallurgy » and « Materials and Process Selection ») and editor of 3 conference proceedings

Distinctions

Professor Brechet has received a number of distinctions which are listed below:

- Prix Pechiney from the French Science Academy (1990)

- Gledden Fellowship , UWA Australia (1993)

- Prize Materials Science and Technology of FEMS (1995), for contributions in modelling

- Prize of the Korber foundation (1996), for modelling in materials science ( with M.Ashby and M.Rappaz)

- Junior Member, then Senior member of Institut Universitaire de France (1992-97 ; 2005-…): research professorship in materials science

Professor Margherita Venturi University of Bologna, Italy

Margherita Venturi was born in Forlì on February 6th 1947. She received her Laurea in Chemistry with honours at the University of Bologna in July 1971. From 1971 to 1992 she worked as a researcher at the Institute of Photochemistry and High Energy Radiation of the National Research Council of Bologna. In 1992 she became associate professor in Chemistry at the University of Bologna, and since 2005 she i s full professor in Chemistry at the University of Bologna.

APPOINTMENTS From 1988 to 1992 she was the delegate for Chemistry in the Governor Board of the Italian Society for Radiation Research (SIRR) From 1993 to 1997 she was a member of the Governor Board of the Radiochemistry Group of the Italian Chemical Society From 1999 to 2002 she was the President of the Guidance Committee of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Bologna In 2004 she was elected again as the delegate for Chemistry in the Governor Board of the Italian Society for Radiation Research (SIRR) In 2006 she was elected as a member in the Governor Board of the Photochemistry Group of the Italian Chemical Society She was the co-ordinator of a Project financed by the European Community (2004-2007) in which eight international researcher groups are involved She is the Co-ordinator of the group “Conoscere la Chimica” of the Department of Chemistry “G. Ciamician” aimed at showing the beauty of Chemistry and its importance for our everyday life.

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES From 1972 to 1991 her main research activity was focused on the field of Radiation Chemistry. In particular, she studied, by means of pulsed and continuous radiolytic techniques, the electron-transfer processes involved in model systems for the conversion of solar energy in chemical energy. In 1992 she moved to the group of Prof. Balzani at the Department of Chemistry “G. Ciamician” of the University of Bologna, where she is still now. Her present reasearch activity is dedicated to the design, construction, and characterization of molecular-level devices and machines in the frame of the bottom-up approach to nanotechnology. An innovative aspect of this research is the idea that the concept of macroscopic device and machine can be extended to the molecular level, and that it is possible to design multicomponent systems capable of performing specific functions upon stimulation with external energy inputs. Up to now the studies in this research field succeeded in constructing (i) a number of systems for information processing such as wires, switches, antennas, batteries, logic gates, and (ii) a variety of systems that, powered by chemical energy, electrochemical energy, or light, exhibit machine-like behaviour such as piston-cylinder systems, shuttles, and rotary rings. Very recently a light powered nanomotor has been obtained which has been highlighted on several scientific journals.

The topic of molecular-level devices and machines has also been extensively discussed in a monograph, in the frame of the bottom-up approach to nanotechnology (V. Balzani, A. Credi, M. Venturi: Molecular Devices and Machines- A Journey into the Nano World, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2003). Such a monograph, recently translated in Chinese and Japanese, has been well accepted by the scientific community (see, e.g., book review on: J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2004, 126, 10191). A second edition of this monograph, updated and enlarged, has now been published (February 2008). 2 She is co-author of about 180 scientific papers, including several reviews, published in the most relevant international journals (J. Am. Chem. Soc., Acc. Chem. Res., Angew. Chem., Chem. Eur. J., Proceedings of the National Academic of Sciences U.S.A.) and has presented lectures and communications at more that 120 International Conferences, Universities, and Research Centers.

OTHER ACTIVITIES She was and is still now member of many Scientific Committees of National Conferences. Since 1990 she is involved in chemical education and spreading of Science, in particular Chemistry, and this kind of activity is testified by about 30 papers and booklets dedicated to these topics.

Professor Marius Iosifescu Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania

Professor Marius Iosifescu, born in Pitesti (Romania), graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics of the Bucharest University in 1959. He then obtained fom this university a Ph.D. in mathematics (probability) in 1963 and a Sc. D. in 1969. He currently is Director of the Bucharest "Gheorghe Mihoc and Caius Iacob" Institute of Mathematical Statistics and Applied Mathematics of the Romanian Academy.

He has held visiting professorships at several universities (Paris 5, Bordeaux 1, Lille 1, Frankfurt am Main, Mainz, Bonn, Melbourne ) as well as research appointments at the universities of Delft and Duisburg.

Among his distinctions are two prizes (1965 and 1972) of the Romanian Academy, the election (1970) as a member of the International Statistical Institute, an Overseas Fellowship (1971) to Churchill College, Cambridge, England, the granting (1975) of the Bronze Medal of Helsinki University, the election (1993) as Chevalier dans l′Ordre des Palmes Académiques. He has been elected a Corresponding Member of the Romanian Academy in 1991 and has become a Full Member in 2000. In 2002 and then in 2006 he was elected and re-elected one of the four Vice-Presidents of the Romanian Academy.

Alone or in collaboration, he authored 129 research papers in real function theory, mathematical statistics, stochastic processes, and probabilistic number theory. Fourteen books, all based on his research work, have been published with important publishing houses. Books include: Random Processes and Learning, Springer, Berlin,1969 (with R.Theodorescu) ; Stochastic Processes and Applications in Biology and Medicine, I. Theory, II. Models, Springer, Berlin, 1973 (with P. Tautu) ; Finite Markov Processes and Their Applications, Wiley, Chichester,1980 (republicated with corrections in paperback by Dover, Mineola, NY, 2007) ;Dependence with Complete Connections and its Applications, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1990 (republicated with corrections in paperback in 2009) ; Metrical Theory of Continued Fractions, Kluwer, Dordrecht, 2002 (with C. Kraaikamp) ; Modeles stochastiques, Lavoisier, Paris, 2007 (with N. Limnios and G. Oprisan -- an English version is due to appear this autumn).

His research interests lie mostly in dependence-with-complete-connections, a far-reaching generalization of Markovian dependence, that takes into account a complete history of a stochastic evolution. The subject, initiated in the 1930ies by the Romanian mathematicians Octav Onicescu (1892-1983) and Gheorghe Mihoc (1906-1981), has found application in a variety of situations as diverse as stochastic models of learning, continued fraction type expansions, and dynamical systems. Iosifescu′ s research helped to disseminate interest in the subject worldwide and, at the same time, to establish it as an important addition to the stochastic process theory.

Currently, Professor Iosifescu is deputy-editor-in-chief of the Romanian journal Revue Roumaine de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées. He also is a member of the Editorial Board of Journal of the European Mathematical Society. He was a member of the Editorial Boards of the journals Probability Theory and Related Fields, Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Stochastic Processes and Their Applications.

Togheter with his colleagues Doina Cioranescu (of Paris 6) and Christian Duhamel (of Paris-Orsay), Professor Iosifescu was involved in two major European education projects aimed at Romanian students of sciences and humanities. Also, these three persons are considered founders and promoters of the series of the Colloques Franco-Roumains de Mathématiques Appliquées, that have been held every two years alternatively in France and Romania since 1992. The last of them, the 9th, was held in August 2008 in Brasov (Romania) while the next one, the 10th, will be held in Poitiers (France).

Author of more than 195 research papers and chapters (>3600 citations, H=36, citations per article=21.0), 97 invited talks in conferences, editor of a series of five books on magnetism (Ed. Plenum Press and Wiley VCH) and a book in Plenum Press, organization of 20 conferences.

Prof. Antonio Camacho was born in 1965 in Valencia (Spain) and currently works as Group Head Researcher at the Cavanilles Institute for Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology and as Associate Professor at the Department of Microbiology and Ecology at the University of Valencia. He obtained the BSc degree in Biology in 1987. After some years of free-lance work as Biologist, he started studies for and achieved the PhD degree in Ecology and Microbial Ecology in 1997, for which he obtained the award to the best PhD Thesis on Aquatic Microbiology for the biennium 1996-1997 from the Spanish Society for Microbiology. In 2004 he also got the Award on Environmental Innovation from Foundation 3M

Currently, his main research concerns are associated to basic and applied aspects of Aquatic Ecology. Basic research aspects are related to the functional ecology of lakes and wetlands, microbial ecology of such ecosystems and the effect of climate change on Mediterranean and Antarctic lakes and wetlands. Applied aspects of his research mainly concern the development of methodologies for the evaluation of ecological status of lenític ecosystems and the conservation and restoration of aquatic ecosystems. With respect to the latter, he is currently advisor from the Spanish Ministry of the Environment for the development of the European Water Framework Directive in natural lakes and coordinator of the working group for Standing Waters within the European Habitats Directive.

On several dates he has been visiting scientist at some Universities and Research Centres, such as the Université Paul Sabatier (Toulouse, France), Universiteit van Amsterdam (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), University of Oregon (Eugene, USA), Utah State University (Logan, USA), Université Bordeaux –I (Arcachon, France) and the Institut für Limnologie der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (Mondsee, Austria). Additionally, he has been the leader of five Antarctic expeditions in which multinational teams made joint research on the functioning of terrestrial freshwater Antarctic ecosystems. From this research, he maintains currently collaboration with researchers of 15 different countries.

Dr Camacho is author of 75 research papers in scientific journals and books, as well as of more than 160 papers in scientific meetings. He is currently member of the Editorial Board of the Journals “Aquatic Microbial Ecology” (Review Editor), Polish Journal of Environmental Studies, Limnetica (Associate Editor); and has been reviewer for 22 scientific journals included in SCI.

He leaded or participated in 15 research projects financed by National and International funding agencies, as well as in 26 contracts with private companies. He has already supervised 4 PhD Thesis and 11 MSc Thesis, and he is currently supervisor of up to 12 PhD Thesis that are at different degrees of development.

Nowadays his teaching activities are centred on several disciplines related to Ecology, such as General Ecology, Limnology, Microbial Ecology and Conservation Biology at the Bachelor, MSc and PhD degrees of Biology and Environmental Sciences at the University of Valencia. Additionally, he taught so far more than 1200 hours in specialized courses given at other Universities and Research centres of Spain and other countries as invited lecturer.

Professor Philippe Flajolet National Institute of Computer Science and Control (INRIA), Rocquencourt, France

Philippe Flajolet, born in Lyon, France, graduated from the Ecole
Polytechnique (Paris) in 1970. He then obtained a PhD in computer
science from the University of Paris 6 in 1973 and a Doctorate in
Sciences, in both mathematics and computer science, from the
University of Paris at Orsay in 1979. He was awarded several
scientific prizes and he was made Doctor Honoris Causa of the Free
University of Brussels in 1994; he was also elected Member of the
Academia Europaea in 1995 and of the French Academy of Sciences in
2003. He has held visiting professorships at the universities of
Barcelona, Princeton, Stanford, and Vienna. He is currently senior
Research Director at INRIA and head of the Algorithms Research Project
in Rocquencourt near Paris.

His research interests lie mostly at the crossroads of computer
science and mathematics. As a computer scientist, his research
focuses on the area of analysis, the goal of which is to obtain a
precise prediction of the probable behaviour of algorithms and data
structures under well-defined discrete probabilistic models. He has
made contributions in such diverse areas as tree-based methods,
external memory data structures, pattern occurrences in sequences,
probabilistic estimation algorithms for data bases and networks,
communication protocols, computer algebra, and symbolic manipulation
systems. As a mathematician he takes pride in being one of the major
forces behind the construction of the field now known as analytic
combinatorics. A major part of his research over the past two decades
has aimed to elaborating a unified theory of this field, based on
algebras of discrete structures, complex and asymptotic analysis, as
well as on relevant parts of classical probability theory.

Philippe Flajolet is the author of over 200 scientific publications
with coauthors from more than 25 different nationalities. He is a firm
believer in cooperative (rather than competitive) research, beyond the
often artificial boundaries of countries, organizations, and
established disciplines.

Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao is among the world leaders in statistical science over the last six decades. His research, scholarship, and professional services have had a profound influence on theory and applications of statistics.

Technical terms such as, Cramer-Rao inequality, Rao-Blackwellization, Rao’s Score Test, Fisher-Rao and Rao Theorems on second order efficiency of an estimator, and Analysis of Dispersion in multivariate analysis appear in all standard books on statistics. Cramer-Rao Bound and Rao-Blackwellization are the most frequently quoted key words in statistical and engineering literature. Special uses of Cramer-Rao Bound under the technical term, Quantum Cramer- Rao Bound have appeared in Quantum Physics. Rao-Blackwellization has found applications in adaptive sampling, particle filtering in high-dimensional state spaces, dynamic Bayesian networks etc. These results have led to contributions of strategic significance to signal detection, tracking of non-friendly planes and recognition of objects by shape. Other contributions of great practical significance are Rao’s U-test in multivariate analysis, and orthogonal arrays used in industrial experimentation. More specialized contributions bearing his name are Fisher-Rao metric, Rao distance, Rao measure, Generalized inverse of matrices, Raos’s quadratic entropy and Lau-Rao-Shanbhag theorems on characterization of probability distributions.

Rao is the author of 14 books and 350 research publications. Three of his books have been translated into several European, Chinese and Japanese languages. One of his books, Linear Statistical Inference and its Applications published in 1965 and translated into six major languages in Europe and Asia, continues to be an advanced text often quoted in statistical literature.

Rao received the Sc.D., the senior doctorate degree of the Cambridge university , UK based on a peer review of his published research work He received 32 honorary doctorate degrees from universities in 18 countries (ten in Europe),spanning six continents. He supervised the research work of 50 students for the Ph.D. degree, who in turn produced 390 Ph.D.’s.

Rao received numerous international awards for his pioneering contributions to statistical theory and practice. He has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, USA, American Academy of Arts and Science, Fellowship of Royal Society (UK Academy of Sciences, FRS), Indian National Science Academy, Lithuanian Academy of Sciences and Third World Academy of Sciences. He was made an Honorary Member of the International Statistical Institute, International Biometric Society, Royal Statistical Society (UK), Finnish Statistical Society, Portuguese Statistical Society, Institute of Combinatorics and Applications and World Innovation Foundation and a life Fellow (limited to 11 at any time) of King’s College, Cambridge, UK.

He has been the president of all prestigious statistical associations, the International Statistical Institute, Institute of Mathematical Statistics, USA and the International Biometric Society.

He received numerous medals: Gold Medal of Calcutta University, Wilks Medal of the American Statistical Association, Wilks Army Medal, Guy Medal in Silver of the Royal Statistical Society (UK), Megnadh Saha Medal and Srinivasa Ramanujan Medal of the Indian National Science Academy, J.C. Bose Gold Medal of Bose Institute and Mahalanobis Centenary Gold Medal of the Indian Science Congress.

Rao was honored by the President of USA with the prestigious National Medal of Science “as a prophet of new age” with the citation “for his contributions to the foundations of statistical theory and multivariate statistical methodology and their applications, enriching the physical, biological, mathematical, economic and engineering sciences..

The Government of India honored him with the second highest civilian award, Padma Vibhushan for “outstanding contributions to Science and Engineering/Statistics”, and also instituted a cash award in honor of C R Rao, “to be given once in two years to a young statistician for work done during the preceding 3 years in any field of statistics.” For his pioneering contributions to statistical theory and practice, he has also been honored with the establishment of an institute named after him: C R Rao Advanced Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science. Rao earned a place in the history of probability and statistics, with his name appearing in the websites: Figures from the history of probability and statistics issued by the University of Southampton, UK, Statisticians in History by the American Statistical Association, Chronology of probabilists and statisticians describing the works of 57 famous scientists from 16th century to the present.

Hillar Aben received his DSc degree from the Estonian Academy of Sciences in 1966. Beginning with 1960 he has been with the Institute of Cybernetics, which is now subordinated to the Tallinn University of Technology: 1960-1967 Department Head, 1967-1976 Assistant Director, 1976-1988 Director, since 1988 Head of the Laboratory of Photoelasticity. His research has been focused on three-dimensional photoelasticity. On this topic he has published two books: “Integrated Photoelasticity” (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1979) and “Photoelasticity of Glass” (coauthor C. Guillemet, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1993) and more than 200 scientific papers. His current research is devoted to residual stress measurement in glass. He is CEO of the company GlasStress Ltd. This company manufactures equipment for residual stress measurement both in glass containers and in architectural and automotive glass panels. This equipment is being used for quality control in many glass companies (Arc International, Pilkington, Philips, Saint-Gobain, Schott, etc.). H. Aben has worked as a visiting professor at the University of Waterloo, University of Poitiers and Politecnico di Bari. He has been member of the International Advisory Board of Experimental Mechanics (2000-2003) and of the Österreichischer Ingenieur- und Architekten-Zeitschrift (2000-2008) and Editor-in Chief of the Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences (1995-2007). He is a member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, Finnish Academy of Technology and European Academy of Sciences and Arts. In 2009 he was elected a Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences.

Karl Christe is a German born and educated Research Professor at the Loker Research Institute of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. During his professional career in the US he has accomplished the following major achievements. Dr. Christe has 46 years of experience in the synthesis of novel high energy compounds and has scientifically guided many government funded research contracts. He has achieved the first syntheses of a large number of spectacular compounds, such as ClF3O, ClF3O2, halogen perchlorates, OIF4OF, OsF4O2, and ions, such as NF4+, ClF6+, ClF6-, ClO2F2-, ClO2F2+, ClF2O+, ClF4O-, NF3+, NF2O+, and NH2F2+. He has also de-veloped solid propellant fluorine gas generators for chemical laser systems. One of the discoveries that received world-wide publicity and is cited in almost every inorganic chemistry text book, was Karl Christe′s first purely chemical synthesis of elemental fluorine. It was conceived and accomplished by him within 3 days in 1986, exactly 100 years after the electrochemical discovery of this element by Moissan. The chemical synthesis of fluorine had been unsuccessfully pursued for more than 160 years and, prior to Karl Christe′s synthesis, it had been a dogma that the preparation of fluorine by chemical means is impossible. Furthermore, he has developed a synthesis for anhydrous tetramethylammonium fluoride and has pioneered the use of this compound as a source of "naked" fluoride ions, which has led to a renaissance of high coordination number chemistry. Among the novel compounds, which he prepared in this manner, are the XeF5- and IF52- anions, which are the first and only known examples of pentagonal planar species. He has a very broad background in general chemistry. For example, he has prepared the first stable oxonium, OH3+, and sulfonium, SH3+, salts, has discovered a new process for metal joining using hydrazine as a gaseous flux, has developed new methods for the introduction of fluorine into aromatic rings, and has pioneered graphite based ion exchange resins for the use with powerful oxidizers in anhydrous HF solutions. In addition, he has made major contributions to the chemistry of fluorocarbons, inorganic high polymers, chemical laser technology, and methane oxychlorination. More recently, he has focused his efforts on polynitrogen chemistry and has discovered the N5+ and cyclo-N5- ions and many new polyazides, including spectacular compounds such as N5+P(N3)6-, and N5+B(N3)4-. The latter two compounds are enormously powerful ex-plosives and have set new records for energetic nitrogen content in a solid. Other recent major breakthroughs in synthetic chemistry are the discovery of a new gas-solid process for the generation of singlet delta oxygen that avoids the problems of liquid-phase quenching and the development of oxidizer balanced ionic liquids. The latter have great potential as green liquid mono-propellants that can replace the presently used, highly carcinogenic hydrazine while at the same time increasing its performance by about 30 %. He has also invented the first quantitative scales for oxidizer strength and Lewis Acidity.Dr. Christe has 332 publications in refereed journals and 64 patents to his credit. In addition, he has worldwide lectured on the results of his research. He is a member of the American and the German Chemical Societies and has received numerous awards, including the Alfred Stock Gedaechtnispreis of the German Chemical Society (2006), the ACS Award in Inorganic Chemistry (2003), the Prix Moissan (2000), the ACS Award for Creative Work in Fluorine Chemistry (1986), and the NASA Apollo Achievement Award (1969).

Volodymyr Vasyliovych Panasyuk was born on February 27, 1926. Prof. Volodymyr Panasyuk is a known Ukrainian scientist in the field of fracture mechanics and materials science. V. Panasyuk graduated from Lviv University in 1951. Since that time he has been working at the Physico-Mechanical Institute (Lviv) and since 1971 Director of the Institute. Prof. V. Panasyuk is also a member of editorial boards of International editions, scientific committees and societies. He is a Chairman of the ICF8 International Conference on Fracture Organizing Committee (Ukraine, Kyiv, 1993).

The main scientific works of Prof. V. Panasyuk deal with the solution of fracture physics and mechanics problems and materials strength; elaboration of brittle fracture processes in bodies with cracks; solution of problems about stress concentrations for bodies with notches; description of contact problems of elasticity theory and physicochemical mechanics of structural materials etc. He is the author of more than 500 scientific papers and 17 books, his investigation results are published in the well-known international journals.
Some investigations of Prof. V. Panasyuk in the field of materials fracture mechanics contain a number of the basic scientific results. It concerns first of all his papers, published in the Ukrainian Journals such as "Applied Mechanics" and "The Reports of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences" in which for the first time the original deformation model of the limiting equilibrium of elasto-plastic bodies with cracks was formulated. In the following research works of V. Panasyuk and his pupils new original theoretical concepts and models of solution of the principal tasks of the theory of limiting equilibrium of the deformed elasto-plastic bodies containing arbitrary oriented cracks have been proposed; new approaches and solutions of the tasks of material theory of cracks for multiply connected fields were proposed too; principally new model of the corrosion environment influence on crack growth in metals was formulated; some fundamental questions of brittle fracture of metals under hydrogen influence were investigated; the experimental techniques for the crack growth resistance characteristics determination were obtained; in particular with Ms participation the corresponding standards on determination of materials crack growth resistance were prepared and confirmed for the first time in the USSR and now they are used for the formation of corresponding scientific standards in Ukraine. All this contributes to the formation and development of the sciences about the materials and structures strength - physicochemical mechanics of fracture and metals integrity.
Especially a 10-volume book "Fracture Mechanics and Materials Strength" prepared under his guidance should be noted. This monograph was published in 1988-2008 (in Ukrainian and Russian). Synthesis of the most important achievements of the science on fracture mechanics was given in this monograph. For the first time and in a full scale the achievements of the scientists from Ukraine, Russia and other countries in this field of science are presented in these books.
Scientific works, as it was said above, as well as his Honour Lecture delivered at the 8th International Conference on Fracture in Kyiv in 1993, new calculation models of fracture mechanics for deformed bodies in contact and other results of his scientific and practical activities are a valuable contribution to the development and confirmation of materials fracture mechanics as a new trend in the science about materials and structures integrity.

Gianfranco Pacchioni is full professor of solid state chemistry and Director of the Department of Materials Science at the University of Milano Bicocca.
He studied chemistry at the University of Milano and obtained the Ph. D. in Physical Chemistry at the Freie Universität Berlin, Institut für Physikalische Chemie (Berlin West) (1981-1984) under the supervision of Prof. J. Koutecky. He made a Post-doctoral experience at the IBM Almaden Research Center (CA) under the supervisor Dr. P. S. Bagus.

His research activity is directed towards surface science and material science problems, with particular emphasis on the properties of oxide materials and metal nanoclusters. Prof. Pacchioni has a wide experience in the description of defects in oxides and their spectroscopic properties. From the mid '90s he has been very active in the study of small metal clusters and nanoparticles supported on oxide surfaces, their chemical activity, diffusion and nucleation processes, catalytic properties. Prof. Pacchioni has a special expertise in the analysis and interpretation of optical, vibrational, and magnetic resonances spectroscopies. In the field of supported metal clusters he has given important contributions for the elucidation of the reactivity of metal nanoclusters on ultra-thin films. About one half of the papers produced in the last years are joined experimental-theoretical studies in this field.

He has published more than 350 papers in refereed journals, and his work has received about 10000 citations (h-index 55). He has given more than 220 lectures in international conferences and research institutions.

In his career, he has received the following honors and awards: Alexander von Humboldt fellow (1993); Gold Medal "Raffaello Nasini", Italian Chemical Society (1994); National Price "Federchimica" (1996); Professor Visitant Invitat, University of Barcelona (1998-1999); Humboldt Research Award (2005). He is or has been member of the Advisory boards of Surface Science (2001-2006), Theoretical Chemistry Account (2003-now), ChemCatChem (2009) and is Editor-in-chief of The Open Condensed Matter Physcs Journal (2008-now).

Prof. Pacchioni has been director/chairman of one NATO Advanced Research Workshop (1991), three NATO Advanced Study Institutes (1994, 1996, 2000), two CECAM Workshops (1991, 1992), one Euroconference (2002). He is presently Chairman of the COST Action D41 "Inorganic oxide surfaces and interfaces" (2006-2009), and has acted as Chairman of the Panel PE5 "Materials and Synthesis" of the European Research Council (2008). He is member of the Scientific Council of the "Fondazione Tronchetti Provera", of the Fondazione EnergyLab, and of the Administration Council of the Consortium CORIMAV for Advanced materials between the University of Milano Bicocca and Pirelli.
Professor Pacchioni has also been active in popularizing science. He has published several articles for the italian version of Scientific American. For the Italian Publisher Zanichelli he has authored two books, "Idee per diventare scienziato dei materiali" (2005) and "Quanto &egrave piccolo il mondo Sorprese &egrave speranze dalle nanotecnologie" (2007) to familiarize young students and normal people with materials science and nanotechnology.

Professor Maria Allegrini University of
Pisa, Italy

Maria Allegrini is full professor of Structure of the Matter at the University of Pisa. She graduated with a Laurea degree in Physics at the University of Pisa in 1969 under the guidance of Professor A. Gozzini. Her thesis reported the first observation in the optical region of the spectrum of the evanescent waves that are the basis of the present near-field optical technologies. She completed her PhD under the guidance of Professor P.G. Harper at the University of Reading in 1973. Her first appointment was at the Institute of Atomic and Molecular Physics of the Italian National Research Council. There she developed her interest in laser spectroscopy of atoms and small molecules. A major success was the discovery of the energy pooling collisions between laser-excited atoms. Motivated by a strong interest in teaching, in 1988 she moved to the University of Pisa as Associate Professor of General Physics and in 1994 at the University of Messina as Full Professor of Quantum Optics. At the University, she extended her research interests, broadly based on optics and laser-matter interactions, to encompass materials science and technologies, in particular at the nanometer scale. In this research area, she has developed atomic force and near-field optical microscopes and used these techniques for nanowriting and plasmonic applications. Her publications include more than 300 articles in international scientific journals and three textbooks.
She has been an invited scientist in the U.S.A. (Brookhaven National Laboratory, University of Missouri-St. Louis, Lehigh University, JILA-Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics Boulder, NIST-National Institute of Standards and Technology Gaithersburg), in Canada (Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics Ottawa), in France (Ecole Normale Superieure Paris, Laboratoire Aimé Cotton Orsay), in Germany (Max Planck Institut für Quantenoptik Gärching, Ulm University, Ludwig-Maximilian University München) and in Denmark (Niels Bohr Institute Copenhagen). A result particularly important is the laser cooling of the vibration internal degree of freedom of diatomic molecules that has been obtained during her recent visit at the Laboratoire Aimè Cotton, Orsay [Science 321, 232 (2008), paper selected by Nature Photonics (VOL 2, September 2008, page 519) as Research Highlight and by Science (VOL 322, 10 October 2008, page 203: P.L. Gould "Cold Molecules Beat the Shakes") as Perspectives in Physics.
Her research contracts include bilateral projects with groups in U.S.A., France, Japan, South Korea and Russia.
Recent enabling activities have been in the Scientific Council of the Deépartement des Sciences Physiques et Matheématiques, CNRS, France (2001-2005), in the Executive Committee of the European Physical Society (2001-2005), in the Executive Committee of the Division of the Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, American Physical Society (2006-2009), in the selection panel "junior" at the Institut Universitaire de France (2007-2008) and in various evaluation panels of the European Commission.
In 1971 she received the Prize "Young Physicist of the Year" from the Italian Physical Society, she is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (since 2001) and Professor honoris causa of the University of St. Petersburg (since 2004).

Herbert Gleiter obtained his PhD in 1966 in physics from the Max Planck Institute of Materials Science and the University of Stuttgart. After several years as a research fellow at Harvard University and MIT, he joined the University of Bochum in 1972 as an associate professor. One year later, he accepted a position as director of the Institute of Materials Physics and a chair professorship at the University of Saarbruecken, Germany. In 1980 and 1982, he has been offered similar positions at ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) Zuerich/Switzerland and the University of Hamburg-Harburg. In 1987 he founded the Institute of New Materials associated with the University of Saarbruecken. Three years later, the Government of Germany appointed him to the Executive Board of the Research Center Karlsruhe, Germany′s largest National Laboratory, where he was in charge of all basic and applied science programs of this Center. In 1998, Gleiter founded Institute of Nanotechnology of the Research Center Karlsruhe. In view of the interdisciplinary character of nanotechnology, this institute was given a new structure fostering the cooperation between research groups from physics, chemistry and materials science in experiment as well as in theory.

In the late 1970s, his research group opened the way to a new class of materials in which the volume fraction of the cores of interfaces is comparable to the volume fraction of the crystallites forming these interfaces. Materials of this kind were produced by consolidating nanometer-sized crystallites and were thus called nanocrystalline or nanostructured materials. In the subsequent years, this field expanded at a remarkable rate: today more than 500 papers are published and several international conferences are organized annually. His publications in this area have been cited far more than 10 000 times.

Throughout his career, Gleiter has received numerous awards, including the Leibniz Prize, the Max Planck Research Prize, the Masing Prize, the Gold Medals of Acta Materialia as well as of the Federation of European Materials Societies (FEMS), the Heyn Medal, the Heisenberg as well the Humboldt Medal, the Von Hippel Award of MRS, the R.F.Mehl Award of TMS and many others. He has received honorary doctorates from three German/Suisse universities, and several honorary professorships and doctorates of universities from abroad. He is an Honorary Member of the German Materials Society and a Fellow of both, the Japanese Society for Promotion of Science as well the Materials Research Society of India. Gleiter is a member and one of the Vice-Presidents of the National Academy of Sciences of Germany as well as a member of the European Academy of Sciences, a Foreign Member of the US National Academy of Engineering, of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the Indian National Academy of Engineering.

Professor Vincenzo Balzani University of Bologna, Italy

Vincenzo Balzani has given important and innovative contributions to the development of Photochemistry, Supramolecular Chemistry and, more recently, Molecular Nanotechnology.
In the early seventies he was one of the first scientists who discussed the problem of solar energy conversion by photosensitisation of the water splitting reaction [1] in a paper that stimulated the work of several research groups. In the same period, he demonstrated the reducing properties of the luminescent excited state of [Ru(bpy)3]2+, a complex that he has extensively used during the following years in photochemical, photophysical, chemiluminescent and electro-chemiluminescent processes [2]. A brilliant spin-off of these systematic investigations was the discovery of an "artificial firefly" based on the oscillating Belousov-Zhabotinski reaction [3]..
In the last 20 years, most of his activity has been dedicated to introduce novel principles in the design, construction, and characterization of molecular-level devices and machines in the frame of the bottom-up approach to nanotechnology. The innovative idea of this research is that the concept of macroscopic device can be extended to the molecular level, and that it is possible to design supramolecular systems capable of performing specific functions upon stimulation with external energy inputs, in particular with light. This idea has been developed in many papers (vide infra) and illustrated in several review articles (see, e.g., [4,5]). The topic of molecular-level devices and machines has also been extensively discussed in a monograph, in the frame of the bottom-up approach to nanotechnology (V. Balzani, A. Credi, M. Venturi: Molecular Devices and Machines- A Journey into the Nano World, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2003). Such a monograph, recently translated in Chinese and Japanese, has been well accepted by the scientific community (see, e.g., book review on: J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2004, 126, 10191). A second edition of this monograph, updated and enlarged, has now been published (February 2008)..
The results obtained in the field of molecular-level devices and machines can be summarized as follows:.
1. Synthesis and characterization of dendrimers for light harvesting antenna systems based on transition metal complexes [6].
2. Photo- and redox-active dendrimers, including (i) photoswitchable boxes [7] and (ii) fluorescent sensors with signal amplification [8]..
3. Photochromism of molecules capable of performing as "write-lock-read-unlock-erase" molecular switching devices and logic gates; hese studies, which include a paper on artificial chemical systems capable of mimicking some elementary properties of neurons [9], have been repeatedly highlighted..
4. Molecular-level logic gates based on pseudorotaxanes, rotaxanes and catenanes [10].
6. Design and realization of other types of molecular-level devices and machines. The papers on a molecular elevator [11], a nanomachine powered by sunlight [12], and a molecular-level extension cable [13] have been highlighted on several scientific journals including Nature, Nature Materials, Chemical & Engineering News and Small..
Molecular devices and machine are expected to find applications in (i) information transfer, storage, and display processes that, in the long run, should lead to the construction of molecular-based (chemical) computers and (ii) the development of nanorobotics and other technologies related to the manipulation of matter and exploitation of its properties at the molecular level [14]. From a more fundamental viewpoint, the bottom-up construction of devices and machines will move science and technology not only from the micro- to the nano-scale, but also from electronics to photonics and chemionics, since light and chemical inputs are very convenient ways to power molecular-level systems and to exchange information at the molecular level [14]. In perspective, the studies carried out on molecular devices and machines will contribute to the constructions of nanodevices in which photonics, chemionics, electronics, and mechanics will be integrated to a different extent depending on the function that the device has to perform..
His scientific interest on energy, and particularly on sunlight, has recently been extended to the discussion of related political, social and moral issues in an essay which has received much attention in the scientific community [15]. A review on the photochemical conversion of solar energy has appeared in the first issue of ChemSusChem [16].
Vincenzo Balzani is included in the list of the 100 most cited chemists since the beginning of the ISI classification. In the last 10 years his 154 papers have collected 7675 citations, with an average of 49.84 citations per paper. His overall h-index is 68, which places him again in the list of the top 100 chemists of the world.
References (list of the most significant papers)..
[1]. V. Balzani, L. Moggi, M.F. Manfrin, F. Bolletta, M. Gleria: "Solar energy conversion by water photodissociation", Science, 1975, 189, 852 (19 citations)..
[2]. A. Juris, V. Balzani, F. Barigelletti, S. Campagna, P. Belser, A. von Zelewsky: "Ru(II)-polypyridine Complexes: Photophysics, Photochemistry, Electrochemistry, Chemiluminescence", Coord. Chem. Rev., 1988, 84, 85 (1637 citations)..
[3]. F. Bolletta, V. Balzani: "Oscillating chemiluminescence from the reduction of bromate by malonic acid catalyzed by [Ru(bpy)3]2+", J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1982, 104, 4250) (7 citations)..
[4]. V. Balzani, A. Juris, M. Venturi, S. Campagna, S. Serroni: "Luminescent and redox-active polynuclear transition-metal complexes", Chem. Rev., 1996, 96, 759 (1219 citations)..
[5]. V. Balzani, A. Credi, F.M. Raymo, J.F. Stoddart: "Artificial Molecular Machines", Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2000, 39, 3348 (908 citations)..
[6] V. Balzani, S. Campagna, G. Denti, A. Juris, S. Serroni, M. Venturi: "Designing dendrimers based on transition-metal complexes, Acc. Chem. Res., 1998, 31, 26 (593 citations): Highlight: Chemical & Engineering News, 1998, October 26, 37..
[7] A. Archut, G. C. Azzellini, V. Balzani, L. De Cola, F. V√∂gtle: "Towards photoswitchable dendritic hosts", J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1998, 120, 12187 (155 citations)..
[8] V. Vicinelli, P. Ceroni, M. Maestri, V. Balzani, M. Gorka, F. Vögtle: "Luminescent Lanthanide Ions Hosted in a Fluorescent Polylysin Dendrimer. Antenna-like Sensitization of Visible and Near-infrared Emission", J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2002, 124, 6461 (73 citations)..
[9] F. Pina, M.J. Melo, M. Maestri, P. Passaniti, V. Balzani: "Artificial chemical systems capable of mimicking some elementary properties of neurons", J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2000, 122, 4496 (78 citations); Highlights: Chemical &Engineering News, 2000, May 1, p. 12; Nature, 2000, 406, 118; The Alchemist (Web), 2000, May 5; Chem & Ind., 2000, September 18, p. 613..
[10] A. Credi, V. Balzani, S.J. Langford, J.F. Stoddart: "Logic operations at the molecular level. An XOR gate based on a molecular machine", J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1997, 119, 2679 (236 citations); Highlights: New Scientist, 1997, August 2, N. 2093, p. 32; Chemistry &Industry, 1999, March 1, 178; Nature, 2000, 406, 118; Chemistry in Britain, December 2000, p. 46..
[11]. J.D. Badjic, V. Balzani, A. Credi, S. Silvi, J. F. Stoddart: "A Molecular Elevator", Science, 2004, 303, 1845 (263 citations); Highlights: Chem &Eng News, 2004, March 22, p. 10..
[12], V. Balzani, M. Clemente-Le√≥n, A. Credi, B. Ferrer, M. Venturi, A. H. Flood, J. F. Stoddart: "Autonomous Artificial Nanomotor Powered by Sunlight", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2006, 103, 1178 (100 citations); Highlights: Chemical & Engineering News, 2006, January 30, p. 36; Nature, 2006, 440, 286; Nature Materials, 2006, 5, 165; Small, 2006, 2, 446..
[13] B. Ferrer, G. Rogez, A. Credi, R. Ballardini, M.T. Gandolfi, V. Balzani, Y. Liu, H.-R. Tseng, J.F. Stoddart: "Photoinduced electron flow in a self-assembling supramolecular extension cable", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2006, 103, 18411 (8 citations): Highlights: Chemical &Engineering News, 2006, December 4, 13; New Scientist Tech, 2006, November 20..
[14].V. Balzani: "Nanoscience and nanotechnology: the bottom-up construction of molecular devices and machines", Pure Appl. Chem., 2008, 80, 1631..
[15] N. Armaroli, V. Balzani: "The future of energy supplies: challenges and opportunities", Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2007, 46, 52 (33 citations); Highlight: MRS-S1, 2007, 1(4), p. 110
[16]. V. Balzani, A. Credi, M. Venturi: "Photochemical conversion of solar energy", ChemSusChem, 2008, 1, 26 (5 citations).

Professor Didier Astruc University of Bordeaux 1, France

Didier Astruc (born in 1946 in Versailles) studied chemistry at the University of Rennes where he received his Ph.D. with Professor R. Dabard in 1975. He then moved to M.I.T. as a NATO postdoctoral fellow, where he worked with the 2005 Nobel laureate Richard (Dick) Schrock. After being a Lecturer, then Master Lecturer (aged 25) at the University Institute for Technology of Saint-Nazaire, he worked for the CNRS at Rennes were he became Maître de Recherche in 1982. Since 1983, he has been professor of chemistry at the University of Bordeaux I and has been promoted to the exceptional class of university professors in 1996. In 1990-1991, he spent a one-year sabbatical leave at the University of California at Berkeley where he was associated with professor K. Peter C. Vollhardt. Since 1995, he has occupied the Supramolecular Organometallic Chemistry Chair of the Institut Universitaire de France.

Professor Václav Sklenička enjoys today international recognition, for his contribution to the understanding of the correlation between properties, mainly the deformation behaviour, and microstructure of metallic materials using different techniques and methods.

He has worked successfully in many areas of materials science using structure analysis to study a variety of materials (steels, Zr-based alloys, Al-based alloys etc.). He was able to determine the fracture mechanisms of various metallic alloys.
In recent years, Professor V. Sklenička has been investigating the creep behaviour in various magnesium alloys and composites. The results he and his co-workers have obtained are a significant contribution to the development of highly creep resistant magnesium alloys. In more recent years, Professor V. Sklenička has been working in the field of creep and mechanical properties of Al, Al-based and Ni-based alloys with ultrafine grains prepared by equal-channel angular pressing. I would like to stress that he has had to solve many very difficult experimental research problems. He has made many fundamental contributions to the understanding of the basic mechanisms responsible for the deformation behaviour and mechanical properties of alloys and composites. He has published more than 300 publications, 200 of them in international journals and processing of international conferences and 3 books.

Fundamental results of his investigations were also presented at many international conferences and published in proceedings. The published papers have aroused great interest. His papers are an important contribution to the solution of many significant problems in materials science and engineering
Professor V. Sklenička is Editor of Chief of Journal "Metallic Materials" and a member of Editorial Board of Journal "Engineering Mechanics". He was Director of the Institute of Physics of Materials, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Brno and at present he is a member of the Academy Council of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Prague.

Professor V. Sklenička is an internationally well-known scientist. He has made a significant mark in investigations of the creep behaviour of various materials and their mechanical properties. He is able to apply the results of research to the working processes.

Professor Willi Jaeger University of Heidelberg, Germany

Willi Jaeger was born on August 15, 1940, in Kschellowitz, Bohemia (Böhmen). He is a leading
personality in the field of mathematical modelling, analysis, and simulation of complex and mainly
nonlinear systems. He is involved in a wide field of applications which include physical, chemical,
biological, and also medical and industrial applications. The mathematical methods used by Willi
Jaeger are notedly manifold and range from nonlinear partial differential equations to bifurcation
theory and optimization to visualization and multi-scale methods.

He is an active scientist, with a strong ability to open new fields by mathematical modelling,
designing scientific tasks and projects, and gaining new insights by deriving mathematical models,
and formulating them in such a way that the analysis can be numerically converted and the modeled processes can be simulated on the computer.

His way of working is consistently interdisciplinary and permanently alternating between real
experiment, modelling and analysis, and virtual experiment on the computer. His interest in
interactions across disciplines becomes visible also through the leading participation in various
DFG (German Research Foundation) and BMBF (German Federal Ministry of Education and
Research) projects and industrial cooperations.

Professor David Sherrington University of Oxford, UK

David Sherrington is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Oxford, having held the Wykeham Professorship of Physics 1989-2008. During 1989-2005 he was also Head of Theoretical Physics at Oxford. He held his Chair in association with a Professorial Fellowship of New College, Oxford, where he is now an Emeritus Fellow. He is also External Professor at Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.

His first and second degrees are from the University of Manchester (B.Sc 1962, PhD 1966), where he also got his first academic post, as Assistant Lecturer in Theoretical Physics, in 1964 (at age 22), continuing as Lecturer until 1969 (albeit on leave 1967-69 at the University of California San Diego). In 1969 he moved to Imperial College, London, initially as Lecturer in Theoretical Solid State Physics, later becoming Reader and Professor. He was Ulam Scholar at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1995-96, spent 6 months at IBM's Thomas J Watson Research Center (NY) in 1975, almost 3 years at the Institute Laue Langevin in Grenoble between 1976 and 1979, and 5 months at Schlumberger-Doll Research, Ridgefield, CT in 1985. He has held visiting professorships at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Ecole Normale Sup´rieure (Paris), as well as sabbatical visitor at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton.

His research interests are broadly based throughout Condensed Matter Theory, encompassing many different aspects; formal many body theory, molecules, metals, semiconductors, magnets, superfluidity and for the last 30 years dominantly the statistical physics of complex systems in which combinations of disorder/heterogeneity and frustration/conflicts in systems of many interacting entities lead to interesting (and often unexpected) cooperative behaviour, spanning examples in many areas of physical systems, but also computer and information science, biology, economics and social science.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (since 1974), Fellow of the American Physical Society (since 1985) and Fellow of the Royal Society (since 1994). He gave the Royal Society's Bakerian Lecture (the premier prize lecture in the physical sciences) in 2001 and was awarded the UK Institute of Physics Dirac Medal and Prize (the Institute's premier award in theoretical physics) in 2007.

He has led many international programmes in the area of complex systems involving the methodology of theoretical physics, starting (in 1987) with the first European Community programme in the subject area, entitled "The Statistical Physics of Complex Systems in Physics, Engineering and Biology".

Among many innovative contributions (in several areas), of particular note is his introduction, in 1975, of the canonical, soluble but very subtle, spin glass model that has proven to be paradigm for the development of concepts and methodologies whose influence has expanded throughout (and helped recognise) the broad topic of complex systems, in many manifestations. This work has received thousands of citations and continues to be regularly highly cited.

He has a significant record as an Editor of very successful journals (e.g. of "Advances in Physics" which has had the highest impact factor in physics worldwide - e.g. in 2000) and for 5 years was Delegate for Physics to Oxford University Press. He has directed many workshops, conferences and advanced schools and has served on many appointment and prize committees and assessment panels.

Professor Peter Stoica Uppsala University, Sweden

General: P. Stoica has made a number of fundamental contributions to the theory and application of signal processing during his 37 year teaching and research career. He has also been influential in setting research directions through his role in the governing bodies of the IEEE (USA), IEE(UK), and the International Time series Analysis and Forecasting Society as well as through his membership in the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. He is an international researcher who has actively collaborated with more than 60 researchers from more than 20 countries. He is one of the most cited researchers in the field. The Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) has included him on the list of the 250 most highly cited researchers in the world in the entire area of Engineering. According to Harzing's citation analysis tool he has (in Apr, 2009) over 15,800 citations, an h-index of 51 and a g-index of 107. His technical contributions and achievements have been recognized with several prestigious awards: he has received Technical Achievement Awards from all three major international organizations in the field (IEEE, IEE, and EURASIP), the Society Award of the IEEE Signal Processing society (which is the highest level award bestowed by the said society), and several important best paper awards including the Baker Prize which is presented to the author(s) of the most outstanding paper that appeared in all IEEE publications.

P Stoica has also held visiting/guest professor positions at The Information Systems Lab, Stanford University, CA, USA, The ECE Dept, University of Florida, Gainesvile, FL, USA, The EE Dept, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, The Dept of Applied Electronics, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden, The Dept of Systems and Control, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, and The Dept of Signals, Sensors and Systems, the Royal Inst of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.

Processing journals.
1981 - 1986: Director of the International Time Series Analysis and Forecasting Society.
1991 - 1998: Corresponding member of the Romanian Academy
1999 - pres: Honorary member of the Romanian Academy
2001 - 2003: Member-at-Large of the Board of Governors of the IEEE Signal

Processing Society.2003 - pres: Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.
2008 - pres: Member of the European Academy of Sciences.

Awards and honors:
1989: Co-recipient of the IEEE ASSP Senior Award for work on Array Signal Processing.
1977 and 1989: Recipient of the Prizes awarded by the Academy of Sciences (Bucharest) for "outstanding work in the system identification and optimization areas."
1994 - pres: Fellow of IEEE (elected "for contributions to statistical signal processing and system identification").
1996 - pres: Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society.
1996: Recipient of the Technical Achievement Award of the IEEE Signal Processing Society for "fundamental contributions to statistical signal processing with applications in time series analysis, system identification and array signal processing." This award "honors a person who, over a period of years, has made outstanding technical contributions to theory and/or practice in technical areas within the scope of the Society, as demonstrated by
publications, patents, or recognized impact on the field".
1998: Co-recipient of the 1998 EURASIP Best Paper Award for Signal Processing.
1999: Co-recipient of an IEEE Signal Processing Society Best Paper Award that "honors the author(s) of a paper of exceptional merit dealing with a subject related to the Society's technical scope, and appearing in one of the Society's Transactions".
2000: Co-recipient of the 2000 W.R.G. Baker Paper Prize Award which is "presented by the IEEE Board of Directors to the author or authors of the most outstanding paper reporting original work published in the Transactions, Journals, and Magazines of the IEEE Societies, or in the Proceedings of the IEEE."
2000: Recipient of the IEEE Third Millennium Medal awarded for "outstanding contributions in the signal processing area".
2002: Recipient of the EURASIP Individual Technical Achievement Award for "many personal contributions to the signal processing discipline" (awarded in 2002 for the first time).
2004: Co-recipient of the Bjorkenska Prize (Major Research Award of Uppsala University).
2005: Recipient of the IEE Achievement Medal awarded for "outstanding contributions to the field of Statistical Signal Processing".
2005: Included by ISI (the Institute of Science Information) on the list of the 250 most highly cited researchers in Engineering in the world.
2006: Recipient of the Society Award of the IEEE Signal Processing Society for "outstanding contributions to the theory and application of statistical signal processing through fundamental research papers and prominent books". This award "honors outstanding technical contributions in a field within the scope of the Society and outstanding leadership within that field".
2007-pres: Fellow of EURASIP elected for "contributions to modern spectral analysis" (EURASIP Fellowship, which is one of the Association's most prestigious honors, was awarded in 2007 for the first time).
2008: Co-recipient of the Barry Carlton Award of the IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society, which "acknowledges what is judged the best paper in IEEE AES Transactions in each calendar year, and which is one of IEEE's oldest and AES highest honor".

Isaac M. Daniel was born in Thessaloniki, Greece. He attended the National Technical University in Athens for two years and then transferred to the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago, from which he received BS, MS and Ph. D. degrees. He served as Science Advisor at the IIT Research Institute, and Professor and Director of the Mechanics of Materials Laboratory at IIT. He also served as Visiting Professor at the University of Poitiers in France. He came to Northwestern University, where he is currently the Walter P. Murphy Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering departments, Chairman of the Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Program, and Director of the Center for Intelligent Processing of Composites.
(http://www.composites.northwestern.edu, http://www.ipc.northwestern.edu).

Prof. Daniel's research encompasses many areas of mechanics and materials with emphasis on experimental mechanics and composite materials. In the latter, he has worked on all aspects of the area including processing, micromechanics, characterization, fracture and damage mechanics, nondestructive evaluation and life prediction. He has pioneered test methods for characterization of polymer, ceramic and metal matrix composites. In recent years he has been working on processing, characterization and modeling of polymer/clay and polymer/carbon nanocomposites. He is also working on application of composites to wind turbines for the promotion of renewable energy sources. Some of his most notable technical contributions include the following:

1.He developed a photoviscoelastic methodology for studying wave propagation in viscoelastic and earth media.
2.He has been working in the field of composite materials since 1965. He contributed to the development of test methods which are today a standard in the industry, such as tests for tension, compression, shear , multiaxial, fatigue, and high strain rate properties.
3.He characterized and studied fatigue damage evolution in composites and proposed a life prediction model.
4.He proposed models for damage development in composite laminates and ceramic matrix composites.
5.He characterized, studied, and modeled failure of composite sandwich panels under quasi-static and dynamic loading.
6.He developed advanced processing methods for Resin Transfer Molding (RTM), including on-line quality control using a gas flow method.
7.Recently he introduced a new interfiber/interlaminar failure theory for composites in excellent agreement with experiments.
8.He developed methods for dynamic characterization of composite materials at high strain rates and proposed failure theories for dynamic conditions.
9.In recent years he has been working on processing, characterization, and modeling of nanocomposites and hybrid nano/microcomposites. In the most recent publications, he describes new processing methods for nanocomposites, using block copolymers for enhancing dispersion of the carbon nanotubes.These nanocomposites are used as modified matrices in structural fiber composites resulting in enhanced thermomechanical properties.

He has received many honors from professional societies including Honorary Membership, P. S. Theocaris, M. M. Frocht, and B. J. Lazan Awards, and W. M. Murray Medal from the Society for Experimental Mechanics; and Distinguished Research Award from the American Society for Composites. He is Fellow of the Society for Experimental Mechanics, American Academy of Mechanics, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and American Society for Composites. He has been invited as plenary or keynote speaker at the International Conference on Experimental Stress Analysis, International Conference on Composites Engineering, and European Conference on Fracture. He has received several best paper awards, He has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Applied Mechanics and the Journal of Composite Materials. He is currently serving on the editorial boards of Composites, Part A and Strain.

He is a co-inventor of four patents dealing with application of composites to a hip prosthesis and quality control of composites processing. . He has lectured extensively at home and abroad; is the author of over 360 publications and ten chapters of books; co-author of a monograph entitled "Experimental Mechanics of Fiber Reinforced Composite Materials;" and a widely used textbook entitled "Engineering Mechanics of Composite Materials," now in its second edition.

Born in 1955 in Seoul, Korea, Chong Soo Lee received B.S. (1979) and M.S. (1981) degrees from Seoul National University, Korea and Ph.D. (1985) degree from Polytechnic University, New York, U.S.A. After working as a research associate in University of Minnesota for two years, he joined Pohang University of Science and technology as an assistant professor in 1987. Since 1998, he has been a full professor in the department of materials science and engineering, POSTECH, Korea and has performed active researches in the fields of fatigue and plasticity of various metallic alloys. His research interest has been focused on the microstructural modeling of mechanical properties of various metallic alloys such as Al-, Ti-, Mg- and Fe-base alloys. Elucidation of high temperature deformation mechanisms of light weight alloys, high strain rate and/or low temperature superplasticity utilizing dynamic recrystallization and microstructural influence on the fatigue properties of high strength steels have also been investigated.

Prof. Chong Soo Lee has made much effort for international collaboration not only in the research works but also in exchanging ideas and researchers. He spent a sabbatical year at UCLA during 1991-1992 and at MIT during 1999-2000. He has presented many invited talks at famous foreign universities and research institutes and kept close relationship with AFRL/AOARD, MIT, NIMS, Tohoku University, IMR, Northeastern University and Marche Polytechnic University. He organized many famous international conferences and workshops: LiMAT 2001 (organizer), US-Korea Workshops (organizer), PRICM-6 (2007, general secretary) and THERMEC 2009 (general vice-chairman).

He has authored and co-authored more than 140 peer-reviewed SCI journal articles and 90 conference papers. He received Seojeong Award in 2003 from the Korean Institute of Metals and Materials, a great honorable award for distinguished scientists. At the same year, his laboratory was selected as one of National Research Laboratories, funded by Ministry of Science and Technology of Korea. In 2004, he was elected as one of editorial board members of two famous international journals: International Journal of Fatigue and Metals and Materials International. At present, he is a chief vice-president of The Korean Society for Technology and Plasticity.

Professor Alan Herbert Cowley (UK) University of Texas, Austin , USA

Alan Herbert Cowley was born in Manchester, England. He was educated at the University of Manchester, England, where he received the following degrees: Bachelor of Science with Honors in Chemistry in 1955, Master of Science in 1956, and Doctor of Philosophy in 1958. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow, and later an Instructor at the University of Florida during the period 1958-1960. During the years 1960-1961 he was a Technical Officer with the Exploratory Group of Imperial Chemical Industries (Billingham Division), England. From 1962 to 1988 he was at The University of Texas at Austin, where he held the following positions: Assistant Professor of Chemistry, 1962-1967, Associate Professor of Chemistry, 1967-1970, Professor of Chemistry, 1970-1984, George W. Watt Centennial Professor of Chemistry, 1984-1988. From 1988-1989, he was the Sir Edward Frankland Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at Imperial College, London, U.K. He returned to the University of Texas at Austin in 1989 and currently holds the Robert A. Welch Chair in Chemistry.

He is the author of over 500 publications

Awards :

Royal Society of Chemistry Award for Main-Group Element Chemistry, 1980 ;Centenary Medal and Lectureship, Royal Society of Chemistry, 1986; American Chemical Society Southwest Regional Award, 1986; Stiefvater Memorial Award and Lectureship, University of Nebraska, 1987; Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (Britain's National Academy), 1988; Chemical Pioneer Award of the American Institute of Chemists, 1994; von Humboldt Prize, 1996; Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques. Decoration awarded by the French Government, 1997; Honorary Doctorate, University of Bordeaux I, 2003; Elected a Corresponding Member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, 2004; The University Co-operative Society Career Research Excellence Award, 2006; C. N. R. Rao Award and Lecture, New Delhi, India, 2007; Elected a Corresponding Member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences, 2007; Elected a Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2007; 2009 American Chemical Society Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Inorganic Chemistry.

Other Honors :

Dalton Chemical Scholar, University of Manchester, 1956-1958
; Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst Fellowship, 1973
; Guggenheim Fellowship, 1976-1977
; Jeremy I. Musher Memorial Lectureship. The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel, 1979
; Appointed to the Editorial Board of Inorganic Chemistry, 1979-1983
; Appointed to the Editorial Board of Chemical Reviews, 1984-1988
; Chairman, Gordon Research Conference on Inorganic Chemistry, 1983
; Appointed to the Board of Inorganic Syntheses, 1983-. Editor-in-Chief of Volume 31
; Elected to Council of Gordon Research Conferences, 1984-1987
; College of Natural Sciences Award for Teaching Excellence, 1984
; Appointed to the Editorial Board of Polyhedron, 1984-1998
; Mobay Lecturer, University of New Hampshire, 1985
; Karcher Lecturer, University of Oklahoma, 1985
; Appointed to the Editorial Board of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, 1986-1991
; Elected Councilor, American Chemical Society, Division of Inorganic Chemistry, 1986-1989
; Appointed to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Organometallic Chemistry, 1987-
; Appointed to the American Chemical Society Committee on Divisional Activities, 1987-1989
; Reilly Lecturer, University of Notre Dame, 1987
; Appointed to the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Chemical Sciences Review Panel, 1987-1990
; Appointed to the Editorial Board of Organometallics, 1988-1991
; Appointed to the Editorial Board of Progress in Inorganic Chemistry, 1988-
; Appointed to the Editorial Board of Heteroatom Chemistry, 1988-1996
; Elected to the Board of Trustees of the Gordon Research Conferences, 1989-1998
; Appointed to the Editorial Board of Advances in Inorganic Chemistry, 1989 -
; Irvine Lecturer, St. Andrews University, Scotland, 1989
; Fischel Lecturer, Vanderbilt University, 1991
; Frontiers of Science Lecturer, Wayne State University, 1991
; Appointed by Governor Richards of Texas to the Executive Board of Texas Science and Mathematics Renaissance Centers, 1991-93
; Baxter Lecturer, Northern Illinois University, 1992
; Appointed to the Scientific Committee of the European Journal of Solid State and Inorganic Chemistry, 1992-8.
; Co-Chairman, First Gordon Research Conference on Science Education, 1992
; Frontiers in Materials Science Lecturer, University of Iowa, 1993
; Elected Vice-Chair, Gordon Research Conferences Board of Trustees, 1993
; Elected Chair, Gordon Research Conferences Board of Trustees, 1994-95
; Inaugural Etter Memorial Lecturer, University of Minnesota, 1995
; President, International Council on Main Group Chemistry, 1997-98
; Appointed to the International Advisory Board of Dalton Transactions, 1997-2000
; Appointed Institut Universitaire de France Professor, 1999
; Appointed to the Science and Engineering Advisory Board of ORFID, Inc., 2004
; Appointed to the International Advisory Board of the Jordanian Journal of Chemistry, 2004
; Gauss Professorship, G√∂ttingen Academy of Sciences, 2006
; F. G. A. Stone Lectureship, University of Bristol, U.K., 2007.

Professor Eldar Salayev Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences

Born in 1933 in Nakhichevan, Azerbaijan Republic, Eldar Salayev graduated from the Azerbaijan State University (AGU) and received his Diploma in Physics in 1956. After having worked as a scientific researcher for about 10 years in the Institute of Physics, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, he received the PhD in Physics and Mathematics, and became the chief of the Semiconductor Quantum Electronics Laboratory and Scientific Secretary at that Institute. Later on, he worked as a Vice-Director at the same Institute.

In 1975, Professor E. Salayev received the degree of Doctor of Science in Physics and Mathematics working in close collaboration with the Nobel Prize winners A. M. Prokhorov and N. G. Basov. The same year he became Professor in physics. In 1972 he founded in Baku the Branch of the Institute of Applied Physics, Ministry of Defence Industry of the former USSR (later on Institute of Photoelectronics Azerbijan National Academy of Sciences). He has been directed this Institute up to 1992.

Professor E. Yu. Salaev is a well-known scientist in the field of physics and tecniques of semiconductors, IR techniques, quantum electronics and nonlinear optics. He is co-author of 2 books, more than 300 scientific papers and holder of 110 patents. His research achievements include: first detection and explanation of nature of the low-temperature and high-pressure phase transitions in layered chalcogenide semiconductors; observation of the presence of the low-frequency rigid layer modes in layered crystals leading to the specific spin-phonon and electron-phonon interaction; new deformation effects in layered gallium selenide-type crystals; formation and behavior of the electron-hole liquid in layered crystals under high-density of excitation; first observation of the second harmonic generation and stimulated emission in gallium selenide and application of this crystal in non-lineer optics, including first observation of the second harmonic generation at 789.5 nm laser wavelength; first observation of the photoinduced change of the refractive index in gallium arsenide which found wide application in optical communication systems; development of the growth technology of the IR materials and creation of the mid-IR detectors.

As a visiting professor, researcher and invited lecturer, E. Salayev has presented many taught seminars and was engaged in scientific collaboration at more than 30 Universities and Research Centers. He supervised 50 PhD students and 15 Doctors of Science. He also serves as a member of the Editorial Board of several scientific journals on materials science and physics.

He has been pursuing the conference leadership to address the frontiers of the physics of semiconductors over the world serving as chair, co-chair, session chair and committee members for over 25 academic conferences.

Professor Salayev has received several awards and honors, including the Azerbaijan State Prize in Science (1972), Honorary Scientific Person of Azerbaijan (1972), Honor Medal of Azerbaijan Republick (1997) and the Vavilov Premium (1982) in the field of the scientific device creation. Salayev also a member of several Academies including the Euoropean Academy of Sciences, the Islamic Academy of Sciences (Iordan), the New York Academy of Sciences (USA), the East International Oil Academy (Azerbaijan), Russian Engineering Academy of Sciences named by A.M. Prokhorov (Russia), International Communication Academy (Ukraine).

He was elected and served as a member of the former USSR Parliament and the Parliament of the Azerbaijan Republick. In 1980 and 1983, respectively, he was elected the Corresponding Member and Full Member of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences. In 1983 Prof. Salayev was elected the President and up to 1997 leaded the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences.

Professor Daniel Eylon University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio, USA

Born in Jerusalem, Dr. Daniel Eylon received his bachelor degree in mechanical engineering and his master and doctoral degrees in materials engineering, all from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology. He has lived in Dayton, Ohio (USA) since 1972 and worked in association with the US Air Force Materials Directorate at Wright - Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) till 1985 on development of fatigue-resistant and high-temperature titanium alloys. His work in that period led to the introduction of higher performance and higher reliability titanium alloys for both civilian and military airframes and jet engines. Since 1986 Eylon has been an engineering professor in the Graduate Materials Engineering Program at the University of Dayton and is currently the program director. In the past fifteen years most of his research work has been devoted to powder-metallurgy, casting and high-temperature titanium and other light structural alloy technologies. This work has led to the introduction of higher-ductility powder metallurgy titanium aluminide aerospace components and automotive exhaust valves, with higher specific stiffness and improved specific high-temperature creep-strength. He has over 300 papers 17 written or edited books and 50 patents all in the area of structural aerospace metals. Eylon is a Fellow of the American Society for Materials (FASM), a fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt foundation, and a fellow of the Boeing Welliver Faculty Program. He served for many years as the chairperson of the Titanium Committee of The Materials Society (TMS) and is on the editorial board of several journals. In addition he has been extensively consulting to melters, producers and manufacturers of titanium alloys, titanium powders, jet engines, rocket engines, civilian and military airframes and medical implant and surgical devises in the US, France, Japan, Germany, Italy, and Sweden. He enjoys studying, researching, international-lecturing and writing on the evolution, history and archaeology of metals (archaeometallurgy), with a special interest in the evolution and history of wrought-iron forging and early biblical-era metal technology.

Born in 1949 in Russia, Ruslan Valiev finished his studies on Physical Metallurgy at the Ural State Technical University (Russia), and received his Ph.D. with the State University of Kharkov (Ukraine) in 1977. Since 1995, he is Professor and Director of the Institute of Physics of Advanced Materials and since 2003 Head of Chair of Plastic Deformation and Nanotechnology, Ufa State Aviation Technical University in Ufa, Russia.
In the early 1990's Prof. Valiev and his co-workers have pioneered the production of ultrafine-grained and nanostructured metals and alloys by the techniques of severe plastic deformation (SPD). These works have attracted high interest and intensive developing in many countries. His main present research interests comprise studies of unique mechanical and functional properties of SPD produced nanomaterials.

Since 1992, Ruslan Valiev has been Guest Professor at well-recognized research departments in USA, Japan and Europe, and in 2001 was granted a Research Award of the Humboldt Foundation (Germany) as well as AvH Re-invitation Award in 2007. He has acted as co-organizer of several international SPD meetings, among these the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Investigations and Applications of SPD which was held 1999 in Moscow and initiated the NanoSPD conference series. Ruslan Valiev is a member of several international professional committees, among these are the International Committee on Superplasticity, Orlando, USA, and the International Committee for Nanostructured Materials, Sendai, Japan and chairman of the International NanoSPD Steering Committee (www.nanospd.org). He has published a large number of publications and books, and gave numerous keynote lectures and invited talks at international conferences. Prof. Valiev enters the editorial board of a number of scientific journals (The Physics of Metals and Metallography, the Physics and Engineering of High Pressures, and others). Besides, he is holder of more than 20 patents related to SPD. Currently holds position #8 in the ranking of most cited authors publishing in materials science compiled by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) (PHILADELPHIA, USA). His value of h-index is 53 (signifying 53 publications each have at least 53 citations).

Kerim Allahverdiev, Azerbaijanian by birth, was born in 1944 and educated at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute (MEI), where he received degree in Electrical Engineering in 1967. His Institute diploma thesis was performed at the Lebedev Institute of Physics, Moscow and was devoted to the superconducting properties of layered Niobium Selenide crystals. In 1967 he finished 2 years English school in Moscow. In 1972 he received the degree of the Candidate of Physical Mathematical Sciences working at the Institute of Physics Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences in close collaboration with the Lebedev Institute of Physics. In 1974-1975 he had Postdoctoral at the Clarendon Laboratory of Oxford University, UK. In 1982 he received a degree of Doctor of the Physical Mathematical Sciences submitting the thesis to the Institute of General Physics also, Moscow, working in close collaboration with the Institute of Spectroscopy and Institute of High Pressure Physics, Troitsk, Moscow Region. Since 1985 he is Professor in Physics. In 1992-1995 he is Professor in Physics at the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey. Since 1995 he is Senior Scientific Researcher at the Marmara Research Centre (MRC) of the Turkish Scientific and Technological Council (TUBITAK), Gebze, Turkey and Senior Research Scientist at the Institute of Physics Azerabaijan National Academy of Sciences.

He has been directing academic research in the field of physics and practical applications of layered semiconductors for over 30 years. Research Achievements include: new effective nonlinear materials in the system of layered gallium selenide- type semiconductors; first observation and explanation the nature of the low-temperature ferroelectric and high-pressure phase transitions in ternary layered chalcogenides. New class of the ferroelectric-semiconductors was discovered in a frame of joint research with the Institute of Spectroscopy (Prof. E. Vinogradov et al.), Troitsk, Moscow Region; first experimental investigation of the influence of ultra-short laser pulses on the transient-transmission change of layered A3B6 crystals and observation of quantum beats as due to the coherently excited fully symmetric phonons. As a result, new type of ultra-fast light modulator was suggested; first observation of the second harmonic generation in gallium selenide at 10.6 µm an 1579 nm and resonant excitonic second-harmonic generation; influence of intercalation on the electronic and vibration properties of gallium selenide-type crystals.

K. Allahverdiev hands-on experience in: modern spectroscopy techniques-also under pressure (pump-probe experiments, Raman scattering, nonlinear harmonic generation and wave mixing, photo- and electro- luminescence, exciton spectroscopy and others; growth and characterization of single crystals, nanocrystals and polycrystalline materials; carrier transport and galvanomagnetic measurements, dielectric spectroscopy; supervising the students at graduate and undergraduate levels, advising Ph.D Theses; demonstrated ability in project management, communication and organization skill, energetic.
Professor Allahverdiev has received several awards, honors, membership and fellowships including Azerbaijan State Prize in Science (1988); Krupp's stipendium, Technical University Aachen (1989); Window-on- Science Award, US Air Force European Office of Aerospace R&D, USA (1996, 2001); Royal Society Award as visiting Professor (1987, 1989); Citation in the USSR Academy of Sciences List of Best Achievements of the Year for the determination of the interlayer parameters and the peculiarities of the phonon spectra of A3B6 semiconductors (1978). Same Citation for different achievements in 1983, 1989 and 1991. He is a member: of New York Academy of Sciences (1998); Azerbaijan National Academy of Creation (1988); Russian Engineering Academy of Sciences, named by A. M. Prokhorov (2008); Member of the Organizing Committee of the European High Pressure Research Group (EHPRG) (1987-1990, 1991-1994, 1996-1999); Member of the Editorial Board, Turkish Journal of Physics; Reviewer of the JOSA, JAP, Materials Research Bulletin and others.

Professor Allahverdiev has published more than 275 articles on the linear and nonlinear optical properties of layered semiconductors, 1 book and 7 review articles. He has 5 patents.

Although a very busy personality Professor Allahverdiev finds time for sport (football, swimming). Among his other hobbies are gardening, walking, music (classic and modern).

Professor Ni-Bin Chang University of Central Florida (UCF), USA

Ni-Bin was born in 1960 in Taiwan and educated at the National Chiao-Tung University (NCTU) where he received his bachelor degree in Civil Engineering in 1983. After having worked as an environmental engineer for about four years in the Navy and the government agency, respectively, from 1983 to 1987 he received the prestigious national award for foreign advanced study. Later on, he received his Master's and Ph.D. degrees in the field of Environmental Systems Engineering at Cornell University in 1989 and 1991, respectively, in the US. He taught at many universities in Taiwan and USA (National Cheng-Kung University, National Taiwan University, Tong-Hai University, Texas A&M University-Kingsville). He is a professor with Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering Department, University of Central Florida (UCF) in the U.S. at present.

As a visiting professor, scientist, and invited lecturer, Dr. Chang has presented, taught seminars, and engaged in scientific collaboration at more than 30 universities and research establishments around the world, including the Peking University, Tonjig University, Tong-Hua University of Science and Technology, Cambridge University, University of Reading, University of Portsmouth, The Council of Environment in England, Karlsruhe University, Heidelburg University, Stuttgart University, Technical University of Darmstadt, and University Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal. He was a visiting professor in the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics at Chinese Academy of Sciences (China) in 1998, and the former Department of Systems Engineering at University of Pennsylvania (USA) in 1999; and a visiting scientist in the Laboratory for Ecological Remote Sensing, USDA and National Risk Management Research Laboratory, USEPA in 2008. He gave graduate seminar talks in Georgia Institute of Technology (2008), University of Texas-San Antonio (2007), Louisiana State University (2006), University of Louisville (2005), Arizona State University (2005), and University of Louisiana (2004) in the U.S.

He has been directing academic research in the field of environmental and water resources systems analysis for over 20 years. His area of expertise covers many facets of environmental sciences and engineering including environmental resources management, sustainable systems engineering, environmental systems modeling, remote sensing, environmental informatics and decision making, and industrial ecology. In recent years, the focus of his research brings well-rounded interdisciplinary efforts in the area of environmental informatics and systems analysis. It emphasizes fusion of environmental hydrology, environmental/ecological engineering processes, computational methods, and information technologies to advance our understanding of large, complex, and integrated environmental and hydrologic systems. The spectrum of these systems ranges from the natural systems, to the engineered systems, and to the integrated natural and engineered systems where the green infrastructure plays a critical role. He has developed over 40 different types of simulation and optimization models for a variety of environmental and hydrological systems analyses. These findings demonstrate the pioneering work in developing and formally establishing the requirements for integrating sensor technology, remote sensing/GIS, cyber infrastructure, infrastructure asset management, low impact development, and sustainability sciences as applied to water resources and environmental management under the global change impacts. It promotes a holistic understanding of the physical world and the built environment via sensing, modeling, analysis, and prediction for various environmental and hydrologic systems under normal operation and disaster conditions.

Professor Chang has received several awards, honors and fellowships including Russell Ackoff Award in the US (1994), Annual Research Award, National Science Council in Taiwan (1994, 1995, 1996), Research Excellence Award, National Science Council in Taiwan (1999-2001), Young Engineer Award, Chinese Institute of Engineers (1999), and the Best paper award in the 6th International Conference on Environmental Informatics, Nov. 21-23, 2007, Bangkok, Thailand. His paper titled "Watershed-based Point Sources Permitting Strategy and Dynamic Permit-trading Analysis" was used by the European Commission's environmental news service for policy makers, distributed to over 6,000 subscribers via Science for Environment Policy News Alert (Feb. 10, 2008).

He was one of the founding fellows of the International Society of Environmental Information Management in 2002. He has authored and co-authored over 130 peer-reviewed journal articles, 9 books and 7 book chapters, and 128 conference papers with more than 1,000 citations. He served as the guest editor for seven special issues with Journal of Hydrological Engineering, ASCE, Journal of Civil Engineering and Environmental Systems, Journal of Environmental Informatics, Journal of Environmental Management, Stochastic Environmental Research & Risk Assessment, Practice Periodicals of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste Management, and Journal of Environmental Modeling & Assessment. He is the former editor-in-chief of the Journal of Environmental Informatics. At present, he is the editor or associate editor of Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, ASCE, Journal of Water Quality, Exposure and Health, Frontiers of Earth Sciences in China, International Journal of Ecology & Development, and Journal of Environmental Informatics. He also serves on the editorial board of 11 international journals and ad hoc reviewers of 68 international journals. He has been pursuing the conference leadership to address the frontiers of environmental systems analysis all over the world serving as chair, co-chair, session chair and committee members for over 34 academic conferences.

Professor Viorel Barbu "Al. I. Cuza" University, Iasi, Romania

Professor Viorel BARBU is Professor of Mathematics at the "Al. I. Cuza" University, Iasi, since 1980. He was Rector (President) of the University of Iasi (1981-1989) and Vice President of the Romanian Academy (1998-2002) ; he is Director of Institute of Mathematics of Romanian Academy in Iasi, since 1990 , and President of Romanian Academy Iasi Branch (since 2001).

His research activity is in the fields of partial differential equations, infinite dimensional equations and control theory. His works have been quoted and used by more than 1500 mathematicians in more than 2500 papers.

Member of the Romanian Academy since 1991, he is also Honorary member of Moldovian Academy of Sciences (2001) , Doctor Honoris Causa (Honor Degree) of University of Nebraska at Omaha (1993), Doctor Honoris Causa of University of Pitesti (2001), Doctor Honoris Causa of University of Galatzi (2001) , Doctor Honoris Causa of University of Craiova (2003) . He received the Prize of the Romanian Academy in 1972.

Professor Jin Akiyama University of Tokai, Tokyo, Japan

Jin Akiyama is Professor of Mathematics at Tokai University and Director-General of its Research Institute of Educational Development. Born in Tokyo in 1946, he earned his Ph.D. at Tokyo University of Science and, at the invitation of Dr. Frank Harary, began his (international) career in graph theory research as a visiting scientist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in the 1970s. His major contributions to graph theory are in the areas of factors and factorizations of graphs, path invariants, and the study of common properties of a graph and its complement. A book on factors and factorizations which he has co-authored with Mikio Kano is being published by Springer-Verlag.

Professor Akiyama has published more than 150 papers on graph theory, discrete geometry, solid geometry, applied math, and math education in journals including Journal of Graph Theory, Discrete Mathematics, Discrete Applied Mathematics, Annals of Discrete Mathematics, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Discrete Geometry: Theory and Applications, The American Mathematical Monthly, Mathematica and Graphs and Combinatorics. He is Founding Editor (1985) and editor-in-chief of Graphs and Combinatorics, and served as a member of the editorial board of Journal of Graph Theory for 17 years. He is author of close to 100 published books on graph theory, combinatorics, discrete geometry, and math education, many of which have been translated from Japanese into Mandarin and Korean.

As a visiting professor, scientist, and invited lecturer, Dr. Akiyama has presented, taught seminars, and engaged in scientific collaboration at more than 50 universities and research establishments around the world, including the Steklov Institute of Mathematics (Russia), Nankai University and Academia Sincia (China), Chulalongkorn University (Thailand), AT&T Bell Telephone Laboratories (USA), and many others. The many academic institutes and conferences at which he has given invited and plenary lectures include the International Conference on Intuitive Geometry (Budapest 2008); Differential Equations and Topology (Moscow 2008); the International Conference on Imaginative Mathematics (Moscow 2007); the Ghanaian Conference on Math Education (Accra, Cape Coast, Kumasi 2007); the 20th European Workshop on Computational Geometry (Seville, 2004); XVIII Coloquio de Teoria de las Graficas, Combinatorica, y sus Aplicaciones (Mexico 2004); the 10th ICME (Copenhagen 2004); the Conference on Recent Progress in Mathematics Education (Bandung 2004); the 9th Quadrennial International Conference on Graph Theory, Combinatorics, Algorithms & Applications (Michigan 2000); the Cambridge Combinatorial Conference in Honor of Paul Erd¨os (Cambridge 1988); and numerous others. He has organized ten international conferences, including the first Japan Conference in Discrete and Computational Geometry (JCDCG 1997), which has become the most prominent conference series in these fields and attracts the regular participation of their most renowned researchers. He edited several proceedings of JCDCG from Springer Lecture Notes Series.

Professor Akiyama is a member of the Organizing Committee of the UNESCO-sponsored traveling exhibition "Experiencing Mathematics", a trustee of the Heisei Foundation of Basic Science, and chairman of the Awards Committee for the Koshiba Prize, which encourages youngsters to become creative scientists. The committee includes Nobel Prizewinners Dr. Masatoshi Koshiba (Physics) and Dr. Hideki Shirakawa (Chemistry).
Professor Akiyama's recent research topics in discrete geometry have an original slant and are chosen for their applicability. The appeal of the problems lies in that they are not difficult to explain, even to non-mathematicians, and their solutions, while difficult to discover, are very elegant and fascinating. A case in point is the result in his recent paper entitled "Tile-makers and Semi-tile-makers" published in American Mathematical Monthly (Vol.114). He proves that if you take a regular tetrahedron, then no matter how you cut its surface, provided that it remains in one piece and can be lain flat on a plane, then the result is a tile which tesselates the plane.

In 1999, Tokyo University of Science awarded Jin Akiyama the "The First Bochan Prize" for significant contribution to mathematics and mathematics education, and in 2003 the Japan Society of Mathematics Education honored him for significant achievement in mathematics education. For more than two decades, Japan's national television and radio network, NHK, broadcast Dr. Akiyama's lectures and programs, drawing a huge audience ranging from young children to senior citizens and popularizing mathematics among the general public.

Although a very busy personality, Professor Akiyama finds time to play the accordion and has performed in various concerts in Japan. Among his other hobbies include sailing in his yacht and making artistic patchwork with paper.

Professor Yiu-Wing Mai University of Sydney, Australia

Professor Yiu-Wing Mai graduated from Hong Kong University in 1969 with First Class Honours and the Williamson Prize; he received the PhD degree in the same university in 1972. After his PhD, he worked as a Management & Technology Trainer, Hong Kong Productivity Centre (1973); Postdoctoral Research Assistant, University of Michigan (1974-75) and Imperial College (1976). He then moved to the University of Sydney where he has held the positions of Lecturer (December 1976-78), Senior Lecturer (1979-82), Associate Professor (1983-September 1987), Personal Chair (October 1987-), Sydney University; Associate Dean (Research & Development) of Engineering (1990-93, 1995-98), Pro-Dean of Engineering (1998-2004) and Director, Graduate School of Engineering (1995-98) and Australian Federation Fellow (2002-07). Professor Mai was Acting Head and Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (1993-95); Head and Chair Professor of Materials Engineering at the City University of Hong Kong (2000-02). He now holds a University Chair at the University of Sydney and is Director of the Centre for Advanced Materials Technology (CAMT). He has also been appointed Honorary, Adjunct or Guest Professor at: Tsinghua University, Peking University, Xian Jiaotong University, Tianjin University, Tongji University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Sun Yat Sen University, Hunan University, South China University of Technology, Huazhong University of Technology, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Technical Institute of Physics & Chemistry - Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Hong Kong University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and City University of Hong Kong.

Professor Mai has received several awards, honors and fellowships including: Fellow of the Royal Society of London (elected 2008); Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (elected 2001); Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (elected 1992); Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences (elected 2003); Fellow of the World Innovation Foundation (elected 2003); Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (elected 1999); Centenary Medal (2003); Honorary Fellow of the International Congress on Fracture (2001); Honorary Member of the Gruppo Italiano Fracttura (2002); Australian Research Council Federation Fellowship (2002-07); Distinguished Visiting Professor, Hong Kong University (2003-04); President, International Congress on Fracture (2002-05); AFG Achievement Award, Australian Fracture Group, Inc. (2000); Founding President, the Asian-Australasian Association for Composite Materials (1997-98); ISI Highly Cited Researcher in Materials Science; UK Science Research Council Senior Visiting Fellowship (1980); RILEM Award and Robert L'Hermite Medal, International Union of Testing and Research Laboratories for Materials and Structures (1981); Fulbright Senior Scholar (1988); and Australian Academy of Science/Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Exchange Fellowship (1989, 1996) among others. In addition, in 1999, he was awarded a DSc from the University of Hong Kong, and a DEng from the University of Sydney.

Professor Mai's major research interests are: Materials engineering and science covering processing-structure-property relations, manufacturing and development of new materials including polymers blends, composites, biological materials, ceramics and cementitious materials; Fracture and fatigue mechanics of materials and structures; Smart materials; Eco-materials; Tribology and surface engineering; Nano-materials and nano-engineering. He holds 2 patents; co-authored 3 books; edited 4 monographs; published 34 book chapters, over 550 SCI journal and 250 refereed conference papers. As a highly cited researcher, he has made major contributions to several areas of materials science and mechanics research:(a) Crack-wake shielding as a general toughening mechanism in quasi-brittle materials, (b) Science and engineering of fibre-matrix interfaces and design of high strength-high toughness fibre composites, (c) Fracture mechanics of stitching and z-pinning to improve delamination resistance of composite laminates, and (d) Energy approach to fracture leading to development of the European Structural Integrity Society (ESIS) Test Protocol on Essential Work of Fracture for toughness measurements of ductile polymers in plane stress.

Professor Mai is Asian and Australasian Editor of Composites Science and Technology, Editor of Materials Forum and Key Engineering Materials; Associate Editor of IMechE Journal of Aerospace Engineering. He is also editorial board member of over ten major international journals on materials science and fracture mechanics.

Professor Emmanuel Gdoutos Democritus University of Thrace, Greece

Dr. Emmanuel E. Gdoutos is Professor of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics and Director of the Laboratory of Applied Mechanics at the Democritus University of Thrace, Greece, and Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University. He is editor-in-chief of "Strain - An International Journal for Experimental Mechanics," and President of the European Structural Integrity Society (ESIS), and the Greek Group of Fracture. He served as Chairman of the European Association for Experimental Mechanics (EURASEM). He is Corresponding Member of the Academy of Athens, the most prestigious academic institute in Greece, member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, Member of Academia Europaea, Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Engineering, Fellow of the Society of Experimental Mechanics (SEM), the American Academy of Mechanics (AAM), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS), and Honorary Member of the Italian Group of Fracture. He received the award of merit from the European Structural Integrity Society and the Theocaris and Lazan awards from the Society of Experimental Mechanics of USA. He received M.S. and Ph.D. from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece.

He serves on the editorial board of eight international journals (Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics, Applied Composite Materials, Advanced Composites Letters, Experimental Mechanics, The Archive of Mechanical Engineering of Polish Academy, Facta Universitatis of the University of Nis, The Open Mechanics Journal, and Scientific Technical Review of the Republic of Serbia). He has awarded two Fulbright fellowships and an excellent teaching award from the University of Toledo.
He taught at many universities in Greece and USA (Democritus University of Thrace, National Technical University of Athens, Lehigh Univ., Univ. of California at Santa Barbara and Davis, Toledo Univ., Michigan Technological University. and Northwestern University). He visited more than fifty universities and research establishments all over the world in which he gave invited lectures, seminars and had scientific collaboration. He participated in more than sixty international conferences in the area of applied mechanics. He participated in many Erasmus and Tempus inter-university programs for the promotion of the scientific and educational cooperation among education institutes of countries of the European Union His research interest include: experimental mechanics, fracture mechanics advanced composite materials and sandwich construction.

His current research projects are concerned with sandwich constructions, tearing and fatigue of elastomers, nanotechnology, composite patch repair of metallic aircraft and design and analysis of a bridge made of composite materials. He conducted extensive research work funded by many national and international organizations. He supervised more than ten PhD. students and dozens of Master students in Greece and USA. Many of his students hold faculty positions in Greek and foreign universities.
He served as chairman of the Department of Civil Engineering of the Democtitus University of Thrace. He authored over 240 papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings and 15 books.
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He served as guest editor of seven special issues of international journals. His book titled "Fracture Mechanics - An Introduction" is a widely used textbook for fracture mechanics courses. He chaired many conferences in Greece and abroad in the areas of theoretical and applied mechanics including the 16th European Conference of Fracture (ECF16) and the 13th International Conference on Experimental Mechanics (ICEM13). He presented invited and plenary lectures in academic institutes and conferences. He is listed in several Who's Who.

Professor Terence Langdon University of Southern California (USA) and University of Southampton (UK)

Terence Langdon comes from Warminster in south-western Wiltshire in the U.K. He obtained a B.Sc. degree in Physics from the University of Bristol in 1961 and a Ph.D. degree in Physical Metallurgy from Imperial College, University of London, in 1965. Thereafter, he held research positions at the University of California in Berkeley, the U.S. Steel Corporation in Pennsylvania, the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He was appointed an Associate Professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles in 1971 and promoted to Professor in 1976. In 2003 he was appointed to his present position as the William E. Leonhard Professor of Engineering in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California. Currently he is Professor of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science and Earth Sciences at USC. In 2005 he accepted an additional appointment as Research Professor of Materials Science in the School of Engineering Sciences at the University of Southampton in the U.K. and in 2007 he was appointed as the Director of the Centre for Bulk Nanostructured Materials in the University of Southampton.
He has held various concurrent appointments including professorial positions at the University of Melbourne, Australia, the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in Mexico City, the University of New South Wales, Australia, the Danish Technical University and Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan. He has been Visiting Scientist at the Ris√ł National Laboratory in Roskilde, Denmark, and Visiting Senior Fellow at the International Center for Advanced Studies in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.

He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) in the U.K., a Member of the European Academy of Sciences and a Foreign Member of the Academy of Sciences of the Bashkortostan Republic in the Russian Federation. He was awarded a D.Sc. degree in Physics by the University of Bristol in 1980 and the degree of Doctor honoris causa by the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2003. He is a Chartered Engineer, Chartered Physicist and Chartered Scientist in the U.K. He is a Fellow of The Institute of Physics, The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, The American Ceramic Society, ASM International, The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS) and The World Innovation Foundation. He is an Honorary Member of The Japan Institute of Metals. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of California Nanotechnologies in Cerritos, California, and Materials Solution in Kobe, Japan.

Professor Langdon has received several awards including the Blaise Pascal Medal in Material Science from the European Academy of Sciences, the Hsun Lee Award from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Somiya Award from the International Union of Materials Research Societies, the Albert Sauveur Achievement Award and the Henry Marion Howe Medal from ASM International, the Structural Materials Division Distinguished Scientist/Engineer Award from TMS and the THERMEC Distinguished Award from the THERMEC International Conferences. He is a member of the editorial boards of Journal of High Temperature Materials and Processes, Journal of Materials Science, Materials Science and Engineering A, Materials Science Forum, Reviews on Advanced Materials Science and Scientia Iranica. He is a founding member of the International NanoSPD Steering Committee for Nanomaterials Processed by Severe Plastic Deformation.
Professor Langdon has a wide range of research interests including the mechanical properties of metals, ceramics and geological materials, high temperature creep. superplasticity and the processing of nanostructured materials through the application of severe plastic deformation. He has published extensively and is the author or co-author of more than 800 scientific papers and 8 books including over 500 papers in peer-reviewed journals. According to the Science Citation Index published by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) in Philadelphia, his scientific papers have received more than 17,000 citations corresponding to an average of approximately 32 citations for each paper. More than 40 papers have received over 100 citations. He has an h-index of 68 indicating that 68 of these papers each have at least 68 citations. He is listed by ISI as one of the most highly cited scientists in the field of Materials Science on their website www.ISIHighlyCited.com .

He was ranked by ISI as #3 world-wide for the total numbers of High Impact Papers published in Materials Science during the period 1981-2001, where High Impact Papers are defined as the 200 most cited papers in Materials Science for each separate year. More recently, he was ranked as #2 world-wide for publishing in the field of Materials Science based on the numbers of citations received for papers published during the 11-year period from January 1996 to December 2006. Currently, he has published the #3 and #4 most cited papers appearing in Acta Materialia (Acta Mater. 46, 3317, 1998 with 517 citations and Acta Mater. 45, 4733, 1997 with 436 citations) and the #1 most cited paper appearing in Scripta Materialia (Scripta Mater. 35, 143, 1996 with 618 citations).

Professor Paul Lecoq CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

Paul Lecoq was born in 1949 in Lille, France and educated at the Polytechnic Engineer school in Grenoble (France), where he obtained his diploma with honors in 1972 and in parallel at the University Joseph Fourier in Grenoble, where he got his PhD with highest honors in 1974. Part of his thesis work has been accomplished in the Nuclear Physics department of the University of Montreal (Canada). Just after his PhD he was engaged at CERN as a fellow in 1974, then as a staff in 1977.
During all his career at CERN Paul Lecoq has been involved in at least 5 large international experiments, in which he played a major role at the detector design and implementation as well as at the overall technical coordination level. His experience on X-ray and Gamma ray detectors has been gained in particular as technical coordinator of the two largest ever built calorimeters for the L3 experiment in the eighties at the large electron-positron ring (LEP) at CERN under the leadership of the Nobel laureate Prof. Samuel Ting, with 12'000 Bismuth Germanate (BGO) crystals (1.5 tons), and for the CMS experiment at the large hadron collider (LHC) at CERN starting in 2008, with 76'000 Lead Tungstate (PWO) crystals (100 tons). This technical coordination activity was across up to 50 laboratories and institutions worldwide and several industries.

Paul Lecoq has become in the last 20 years a worldwide recognized expert in the domain of heavy scintillating crystals. After some interaction with the Nobel laureate Georges Charpak he has decided to create in 1990 an international and multidisciplinary collaboration (Crystal Clear) hosted by CERN, to regroup all the competences in different fields (solid state physics, crystallo-genesis, chemistry, solid state optics, particle physics, etc...) for the development of new inorganic scintillators for scientific and industrial applications. This collaboration has been instrumental in understanding the fundamental role of Ce3+ as an activator in many hosts, as well as in developing the high quality mass production of Cerium Fluride (CeF3), Lead Tungstate (PbWO4) and Lutetium Aluminum Perovskite (LuAP) crystals, on which Paul Lecoq owns a patent.

In order to support this research effort at the international level Paul Lecoq has initiated and chaired the SCINT series of international conferences on inorganic scintillators for physics and industrial applications: Chamonix, FR (1991), San Francisco, USA (1993), Delft, NL (1995), Shanghai, CN (1997), Moscow, RU (1999), Chamonix, FR (2001), Valencia, SP (2003), Alushta, Ukraine (2005), Winston Salem, USA (2007). The next one is scheduled in 2009 in South Korea.

Around 1997 Paul Lecoq started to work on the translational aspect of his research in the field of ionization detectors for calorimetry. He tried in particular to promote technology transfer activities from particle physics to medical imaging. This was going first to a reorientation of the Crystal Clear program opening the fundamental research on new scintillators to the construction of medical imaging prototypes such as the ClearPET small animal PET scanner with a LuAP/LSO phoswich and the ClearPEM dedicated positron emission tomography for functional breast imaging. The next step was to organize a series of workshops and conferences, such as EuroMedIm2006, the first European conference on molecular imaging technologies.

In parallel Paul Lecoq has been tirelessly trying to setup a European Centre for Research in Medical Imaging (Cerimed) and to promote it at the European level. This centre, seen as an environment of synergystic exchange between all the disciplines involved in medical imaging and industry is now an approved project, which received funding from the French central and regional government to build a 2700m2 infrastructure on the site of the university hospital La Timone in Marseilles. Paul Lecoq is now acting as technical director of this Centre, which will be fully operational in 2011 (http://cerimed.web.cern.ch)
In summary the scientific leadership of Paul Lecoq has developed along the following lines:

Since 1991: Organizer of a worldwide R&D effort for the development of new scintillators for physics, medical and industrial applications.
Initiator and Spokesman of the Crystal Clear international collaboration for this R&D. Co-leader of 2 other R&D projects financed by the European Communities. Technical coordinator of a national convention in France involving industry and universities on the same subject

Since 1992: Organizer of a cycle of international conferences on "Heavy scintillators for scientific and industrial applications" First one in Chamonix, France in 1992 (200 participants), 9th one in Winston Salem (NC, USA) in 2007 (300 participants)

1994-2007: As Technical coordinator of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter at the LHC Large Hadron Collider, responsible for the technical development and the mass production of 76'000 Lead Tungstate crystals (100 tons)

1994-2000: Organizer of the development and mass production organization of Lutetium Aluminum perovskite crystals, in particular for PET scanner applications
Since 2000: Strong involvement in the development of dedicated breast imaging camera combining several modalities for a multiparametric evaluation of breast tumors (anatomic, structural and functional)

Since 2002: Feasibility study and setting-up of an international medical imaging research centre, presently being built in Marseille (Cerimed)

Georges Van den Abbeele, Belgian by birth, is since three years Dean of the social sciences at UC Santa Cruz. He obtained his Ph.D. in Romance Studies in 1981 at the Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. He became Associate Professor of Literature at the university of California in 1985, Professor of Foreign Languages in 1996, Professor of Humanities in 2005.

The research activities and teaching interests of Professor Van den Abbeele concern mainly three headings : Francophone studies ( Philosophy, Litterature and Culture); the past of California, Asian and latino immigration, problems met by a sustenable development; the history of the European idea from the mid-wars to the present. The rethinking of human and social studies in a contemporary context including philosophy, anthropology and the impact of cognitive studies. He played a decisive role in creating Research Institutes in the fields of his interests ( West Pacific Research institute, Humanities centers).

He has published and edited 11 books and more than 100 articles in scientific journals and encyclopedias.

1949 Born at Ancona 18th December
1974 MD - University of Padua
1979 Specialist Internal Medicine University of Verona
1982 Specialist in Surgical Pathology -University of Milan
Associate Professor of Human Anatomy- Faculty of Medicine, University of Ancona.
1984- Director Institute of Normal Human Morphology (Anatomy and Istology) , Faculty of Medicine, University of Ancona.
Director Electron Microscopy Unit of the Dpt of Pathology of the Ancona General Hospital.
1986 Professor of Human Anatomy
1989- Didactic Dean Faculty of Medicine
1997-03 Vice-President of the European COST ACTION 918: "Body Weight and Energy expenditure"
2005-6 President of section Marche of SIO (Italian Society for the study of Obesity)
2007 Member of European COST ACTION BM0602: "Adipose tissue: a
key target for prevention of the metabolic syndrome"
Honorary member of Italian Society of Nutrition and Sport
2008-10 President Italian Society of Obesity
AWARDS 2008 Blaise Pascal Medal European Academy of Sciences

Professor Cinti is author of one book, of chapters in various books and of 168 original publications (with more than 1500 citations). He is Co-Editor in Chief of the journal "Adipocytes" and presented lectures at numerous international conferences. He pursues international collaborations with many Universities, in Austria,Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, USA.

Derek Woollins was born in Cleethorpes and educated at the local grammar school before studying chemistry at the University of East Anglia (Norwich) where he went on to carry out his PhD under the supervision of Andrew Thomson and Roger Grinter. He carried out postdoctoral work with Bill Cullen (UBC, Vancouver), Barnett Rosenberg (MSU, Michigan) and Norman Greenwood (Leeds, England) before being appointed as a lecturer at Imperial College London. After 12 years at Imperial College he moved to Loughborough as the Chair in Inorganic Chemistry where he stayed for five years before moving to St Andrews as the Chair in Synthetic Chemistry in 1999. He is currently Head of the School of Chemistry in St Andrews.

His early work developed high yield reproducible synthesis of complexes containing naked S-N anions. Having originally used metathesis reactions he developed the use of liquid ammonia as both a solvent and reagent to prepare M-S-N compounds in simple efficient routes which avoid the need for explosive starting materials like S4N4. This latter benefit was especially marked when he opened up the field M-Se-N chemistry . His synthetic methodologies were sufficiently good that he was able to prepare 15N labelled compounds. His group subsequently developed a range of nmr studies in S-N chemistry ‚Äď establishing the utility of 14N and 33S nmr. for molecular characterisation as well as speciation in liquid ammonia. He also developed the interface with materials chemistry, a good example of this is the elegant direct reduction of S4N4 using cobaltocene to give the charge transfer system [Cp2Co][S3N3] .

He also developed the chemistry of imidophosphinates . He studied the coordination chemistry of the PIII and mixed 'hemilabile' PIII/PV as well as the PV systems which give six-membered ME2P2N rings that adopt a number of different geometries ie., boat, chair and are capable of supporting unusual metal geometries. Amongst the most exciting compounds obtained was the first square planar Sn(II) complex , trinuclear Cu(I) systems and air stable tellurium complexes

He played a major part in the development of P-Se heterocyles, synthesising the new reagent [Ph(Se)PSe2P(Se)Ph]. This compound is now commercially available and known as 'Woollins Reagent' (WR, Aldrich Cat No 57254-3). WR is useful for a variety of organic transformations and heterocycle formations

In recent times he has also been successful in elucidating the structure of the long known but poorly understood (SCN)x as part of a wider study which included fundamental characerisation of (ECN)2 as well as developing the coordination chemistry of triselenocarbonate dianion and related systems

Recently Woollins has set about investigating 1,8 substituted naphthalene derivatives. This naphthalene based work has been conducted on the premise that the 'natural' E..E in a 1,8 substituted species is ca 2.4 ‚Ä¶ and that this distance and a bonding interaction will be favoured over ring strained alternative geometries when heavier elements are placed close to each other using the 1,8 scaffolding. Thus the premise is to take disubstituted but ring strained naphthalene [ie the naphthalene is twisted from ideal aromatic planar geometry or the E groups are pushed apart with non trigonal geometries at carbon] systems and react them to release the ring strain and to form the appropriate E-E bond. The combination of a weak E-E bond coupled with the energy gained from release of ring strain should enable unsusal systems to be obtained.

Woollins has published over 425 research papers in main group chemistry and two books

Professor Guillermo VelardePolytechnical University of Madrid, Spain

Professor Guillermo Velarde was born in Madrid. He obtained his Master degree in 1952 and his Doctor degree in 1959 at the Polytechnical University of Madrid. In 1956 he started working in the Theoretical Physics Section of the Spanish Atomic Energy Commission (Junta de Energ√≠a Nuclear, JEN). Few months later he was sent to the United States to study nuclear physics and reactor theory at Pennsylvania State University and Argonne National Laboratory. Afterwards, he started working in Atomics International of California in a project for the design of a heavy water reactor.

When he returned to Spain to the JEN in the Fall 1963, he began research in the field of transport theory, slowing down and thermalisation of neutrons. In 1966 he was appointed professor and in 1973 got the chair of nuclear physics at the Polytechnical University of Madrid, teaching the speciality of quantum mechanics. Simultaneously to this academic activity, Professor Velarde continued his work as researcher of the JEN where he was appointed Director of Advanced Technology in 1974. This direction included the following divisions: Electronics, Engineering, In-Service Reactor Theory and Calculations, and Fusion.

Papers published by J. Nuckolls et al. in 1972 encouraged him to work in inertial nuclear fusion and he started this research in direct-driven targets based on the micropellet of DT with a layer of plutonium. To carry out these studies he organized a small but very competent group with half a dozen of scientists selected among his most brilliant students of his courses on Quantum Mechanics. Their research led to the development of NORCLA code, the first non-classified coupled code, including time-dependent hydrodynamics and realistic neutron-gamma transport with adequate energy source from fusion and fission materials. NORCLA was made of two modules: NORMA (for hydrodynamics) and CLARA (for fusion-fission sources and neutron-gamma transport).

In 1976, Professor Velarde submitted to the 19th Nuclear Energy Agency Committee in Reactor Physics held in Chalk River (Canada) a paper entitled Neutronic of Laser Fission-Fusion Systems in which the first calculation with NORCLA was postulated. This was one of the first papers published on inertial confinement fission-fusion. Since then, this code has been enlarged including two-dimensional transport and different codes for atomic physics, safety and materials.

In 1981, the JEN decided to devote all its efforts to the magnetic confinement fusion research. For this reason Professor Velarde left the JEN and founded the Institute of Nuclear Fusion (DENIM) at the Polytechnical University of Madrid. Afterwards the group that had been working with him in inertial fusion left also the JEN and joined the DENIM.

Among other data of interest, Professor Velarde was Commissioner of the Spanish Commission on Space Research (1978-1981). Chairman of the Inertial Fusion Energy Coordinating Committee of the European Union (1999-2007) and Chairman of seven international conferences. He has published 328 papers on nuclear physics, neutron transport theory and inertial confinement nuclear fusion. He has written the book Quantum Mechanics (McGraw Hill-2002) and is co-editor of other seven books. Among his publications, it is worth to remark the last one, co-edited with Natividad Carpintero-Santamar√≠a, Inertial Confinement Nuclear Fusion: A Historical Approach by its Pioneers (Foxwell and Davies UK Ltd-2007) which describes for the first time the work carried out by the leading and pioneer scientists in this field during the last 50 years at the main international nuclear laboratories.

One the most touching moments of his life was when he was invited to Moscow by the Academician Oleg Krokhin to address the memorial lecture on Nobel Laureate Nicolai G. Basov at the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2002. At the end of this ceremony, Mrs. Basova gave him Basov's own watch as a token of the sincere friendship that both scientists (Basov and Velarde) shared along their lives.

Professor Velarde was director of the Institute of Nuclear Fusion from 1981 to 2004, being now its President. His Institute has been visited by about 200 international scientists, among them, Edward Teller and five Nobel Prizes: Rudolph Mossbauer, Leo Esaki, Nicolai G. Basov, Jack Steinberg and Carlo Rubbia and, upon the request of Professor Velarde, the Polytechnical University of Madrid granted the Honoris Causa Doctorate to Professors Mossbauer, Esaki, Basov and Rubbia.

In 1997 he was awarded with the Edward Teller Award as recognition of his research in inertial fusion energy and in 1998 Professor Velarde received the Archie H. Arms Award for this work in emerging nuclear energy systems.

Born in Brussels on May 9, 1937, Professor Charles J. Joachain obtained his Ph.D. in Physics in 1963 at the Universit&eacute Libre de Bruxelles. From 1964 to 1965 he was a Postdoctoral Fellow of the Belgian American Educational Foundation at the University of California in Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and from 1965 to 1966 a Research Physicist at these institutions. At the Universit&eacute Libre de Bruxelles he was appointed charg&eacute de cours associ&eacute in 1965, charg&eacute de cours in 1968, professeur extraordinaire in 1971 and professeur ordinaire in 1978. He was chairman of the Department of Physics in 1980 and 1981. He was also appointed professor at the Universit&eacute Catholique de Louvain in 1984. In 2002, he became professeur ordinaire émérite at the Universit&eacute Libre de Bruxelles and professeur honoraire at the Universit&eacute Catholique de Louvain.

The research activities of Professor Joachain concern two areas of theoretical physics: quantum collision theory and the interaction of intense laser fields with matter. He has published over 200 research articles and four books.

Professor Joachain has been a visiting professor in several universities and laboratories in Europe and the United States, in particular at the University of California in Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI), the University of Rome La Sapienza and the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Garching.

Professor Joachain has received many scientific distinctions and prizes, in particular the Prix Louis Empain in 1963 and the Alexander von Humboldt Prize in 1998. He was President of the Belgian Physical Society from 1987 to 1989. He is Fellow of the Institute of Physics (UK) since 1974 and Fellow of the American Physical Society since 1977. He is Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Durham since 1989. He is a member of the Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique and of the Academia Europaea.

Professor Santiago Alvarez

Universitat de Barcelona, Spain

Professor Alvarez was born in Panama (Republica de Panama) in 1950, where he developed his interest for Chemistry. He moved to Barcelona in 1968 to study Chemistry at the Universitat de Barcelona (UB), where he pursued graduate studies with a grant of the Agustin Pedro y Pons Foundation. He obtained a Ph. D. with a thesis on vibrational spectroscopy under the advice of Prof. Jaume Casabo and in collaboration with V. Tabacik in Montpellier (France). For some time he carried out research on the synthesis and characterization of molecular metals and worked later for one year in theoretical inorganic chemistry in the group of Roald Hoffmann at Cornell University, granted by the Fulbright-MEC postdoctoral program. He was appointed as Profesor Titular (Associate Professor) in the Universitat de Barcelona in 1984 and was promoted to Catedratico (Full Professor) of Inorganic Chemistry in 1987.

His main research interests have been in bonding and stereochemistry of transition metal compounds, combining computational chemistry and structural database analysis. In particular he has dealt with the structure and bonding of several families of coordination and organometallic molecules, the structure and electrical properties of solid state compounds, the magnetic coupling of two or more paramagnetic atoms in complex molecular structures. He has produced over two hundred research papers. The most recent line of activity of his research group consists on the definition and application of the continuous shape measures and the continuous symmetry measures to the systematic description of molecular, supramolecular and crystal structures, developing new stereochemical tools such as the shape maps, the minimal distortion paths, the path deviation functions and the generalized interconversion coordinates.

He was Director of the Department of Inorganic Chemistry of the UB between 1992 amd 1995 and is advisor to the Board of Governors of the UB since 2004. He has been a member of the Editorial Board and of the International Advisory Board of Dalton Transactions, and participated in a IUPAC working party for the study of terminology of theoretical chemistry in 1993. His most recent awards include the Distincio de la Generalitat de Catalunya per a la Promocio de la Recerca Universitaria, Premio de Investigacion en Quimica Inorganica de la Real Sociedad Espanola de Quimica and the Premio Solvay de Investigacion en Ciencias Quimicas. He is Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry since 2005 and a corresponding member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences since 2006.

He has been active in organizing scientific meetings, such as the euromediterranean conference of inorganic chemistry FIGIPS-6 in 2001 and several international advanced courses on Synchrotron Radiation and X Ray Absorption, Dessign and Assembly of Molecules and Networks, Photochemistry and Luminiscence of Coordination Compounds or Structural Databases in Chemistry. Starting in 2003, he has organized the international meetings NoSIC (Not Strictly Inorganic Chemistry), in which participants discuss on topics on the borders of Chemistry and other areas of knowledge, such as art, history, language, music or gastronomy. He publishes a section in the Revista de la Societat Catalana de Quimica entitled El Bagul dels Llibres (the ark of books), that reviews the most salient books on topics close to the edges of chemistry and humanistic knowledge. He has also recently published a book entitled Els atoms en l'espai (Atoms in Space), that provides a Catalan translation of the founding papers of stereochemistry by Van 't Hoff and Le Bel, complemented with an assay on the precedents and consequences of such publications.

Professor Professor Li Ta-tsien Fudan University, China

LI Ta-tsien is since 1980 Professor at the prestigious Fudan University in Shanghai, one of the best universities in China. He began his scientific career as a student of the famous mathematician GU Chao-hao, also at Fudan University. After he got his Ph.D. in 1966, he spent the terrible years of the so-called "Cultural" Revolution in total isolation. It is only after 1975 that he could begin to resume the usual scientific activities. In this respect, the two years that he spent from 1979-1981 as a Research Fellow at the celebrated College de France in Paris were decisive. It is the late Professor Jacques-Louis Lions, one of the most eminent and influential applied mathematicians of the twentieth century, who had invited LI Ta-tsien in Paris, a sure sign that he had an excellent opinion of him! There he became acquainted with the theory of partial differential equations and control theory, together with some of their manifold applications, such as nonlinear elasticity or gas dynamics (more specific details are provided below).
After his stay in France, LI Ta-tsien began what was to become an exceptionally brilliant career. As a result, he is now recognized as one of the most eminent applied mathematicians in China, and more generally, in Asia. I will now briefly evoke some of the domains where LI Ta-tsien has made major contributions (it would be too long to describe all of them!).

LI Ta-tsien is one of the best specialists, worldwide, of the theory and numerical analysis of nonlinear hyperbolic partial differential equations, a domain where major difficulties abound, as well as a domain of fundamental importance in applications. These include in particular nonlinear elasticity and gas dynamics. Guided by the objective of acquiring a better understanding of the theory and physics of shocks that occur in gas dynamics, LI Ta-tsien has developed a new theory of local existence of classical and discontinuous solutions for the most general quasi-linear hyperbolic systems with two variables, including those where a free boundary occurs. In this fashion, he was able to specify the local structure of discontinuous solutions. This work immediately attracted the attention of Andrew Majda, a famous specialist of the subject, who stated that [quote] "In a series of interesting papers, Li and Yu have discussed general free boundary value problems for hyperbolic equations, including the full perturbed Riemann problem and steady supersonic flow in two dimensions past a curved wedge... This is the only other work known to the author on hyperbolic free boundary value problems" [unquote].

In another series of fundamental contributions, LI Ta-tsien has established the existence of classical solutions for the Cauchy problem for general quasi-linear hyperbolic system, with "sufficiently small" initial data. This work constitutes a double achievement: First, it provides optimal estimates of lower and upper bounds for the "life-span" of a classical solution; second, it can be applied to the system of nonlinear elastodynamics. The late Professor Jean Leray, one of the most famous mathematicians of the twentieth century, then made the following comment on this work: [quote] "The work of LI Ta-tsien provides precise and elegant answers to manifold questions raised by many researchers" [unquote]. In addition, LI Ta-tsien was able to obtain a complete characterization of the life-span of classical solutions for nonlinear wave equations, thus improving over previous results of Fritz John, Lars Hormander, and Sergiu Klainerman.

More recently, LI Ta-tsien was able to obtain the first satisfactory mathematical modeling of "diagraphy of wells by resistivity", a method of fundamental importance in petroleum exploitation. This work led him to introduce a new family of boundary value problems, called "boundary value problems with equipotential surface". He then studied such problems, both theoretically and numerically, in particular by successfully applying homogenization theory to the modeling of an electrod composed of many parts. It is a measure of the success and power of his approach that it is currently used in more than ten petroleum fields over the world! In this respect, the review journal "Zentralblatt fur Mahematik" recently praised the book that LI Ta-tsien wrote on the subject, stressing that this approach has proved to be very useful to anyone interested in "mathematical geology".

To this day, LI Ta-tsien has published five monographs and more than research 190 papers. He received the State Natural Science Prize, the State Education Commission Prize for Scientific and Technical Progress, the Shanghai Scientific and Technical Progress Prize and various other Prizes.

Ta-tsien is already a Member of the prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences, of the Third World Academy of Sciences, and of the French Academy of Sciences, he is also Co-Director of Mathematics Center of State Education Ministry and Institut Sino-Francais de Mathematiques Appliquées, President of the SMAI of China, Director for China of the CIMPA and Officer-at-large of ICIAM.

Professor Roderick Sue-cheun Wong City University of Hong Kong, China

Professor Roderick S C Wong was born in Shanghai, China. He obtained his BA degree in Mathematics from San Diego State College in 1965 and his PhD from the University of Alberta in 1969. He started his career as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Manitoba, where he stayed for almost 25 years. In 1973, he was promoted to Associate Professor and in 1979 to Full Professor. In 1986, he was appointed Head of the Department of Applied Mathematics, a post he held until he left the University of Manitoba in 1994.

Prof Wong joined City University of Hong Kong in early 1994 to take up the post of Professor of Mathematics. He was concurrently appointed Head of the then newly formed Department of Mathematics. In 1995, he led the efforts for the establishment of the Liu Bie Ju Centre for Mathematical Sciences and was appointed Director of the Centre. From 1998 to 2004, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, and from 2004 to 2006, the Dean of Research and Graduate Studies. In April 2006, he was appointed Vice-President (Research)/Dean of Graduate Studies.

Prof Wong was the Vice-President of the Canadian Applied Mathematics Society in 1988 and the President in 1989 and 1990. During 1988-1991, he served on the Grants Selection Committee for Pure and Applied Mathematics, Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada. From 1991-1993, he was the Vice-President of the Canadian Mathematical Society, and from 1995-1997, he was the President of the Hong Kong Mathematical Society. Prof Wong was the Co-Editor-in-Chief of "Methods and Applications of Analysis" from 1993-1999. He has been the Co-Editor-in-Chief of "Analysis and Application" since 2001, and is currently serving on the Editorial Board of more than ten journals. ¬†
The honours bestowed on Prof Wong include the Killam Research Fellowship (1982-1984), one of the most prestigious awards for researchers given by the Canada Council, and the Rh Award for Outstanding Contributions to Scholarship and Research (1984) from the University of Manitoba. Prof Wong is holding the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Canada, an honour he obtained in 1993 through election. In 2002, he was elected to the Academy of Science of Turin (Italy) as a foreign member. In 2004, he was awarded the Chevalier dans l'Ordre National de la Legion d'Honneur. He has also been awarded an honorary professorship by Shanghai University, Dalian University of Technology, and Northeastern University of the Mainland China.

Prof Wong's research interests cover the areas of asymptotic analysis, perturbation methods, special functions and orthogonal polynomials, integral transforms, integral equations, and ordinary differential equations. During the period of 1970-1996, his research work was continuously funded by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and other external grant bodies such as Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd, Provincial Government of Manitoba, etc. Since he returned to Hong Kong, he has been awarded five Competitive Earmarked Research Grants by Hong Kong Research Grants Council on five consecutive applications. Prof Wong has published over 100 papers in international journals, and is the author of the book Asymptotic Approximations of Integrals published by Academic Press (1989) and reprinted by SIAM in its Classics in Applied Mathematics Series (2001).

Born May 1958 in Vigo, Spain, Professor Asuncion Fernandez graduated in Chemistry at the University of Cadiz (1980) and in Physics at UNED (Spanish Open University) (1984). From 1980 to 1983 she carried out her PhD work at Max-Planck Institut für Strahlenchemie in Mülheim a.d. Ruhr (Germany) under the guide of Prof.H.Kisch. During this period she got fellowships from the Max-Planck Society and the Alfried Krupp Foundation. She obtained her Dr. re. Naturforschung Degree at the University of Dortmund in June 1983. The topic of this first stage research was the photocatalytic production of hydrogen from water in the presence of semiconductor catalysts.

She returned to Spain and joined the Inorganic Chemistry Department of the University of Seville as post-doctoral researcher and continued her research on the application of semiconductor nanoparticles as photocatalysts. In 1986 the Materials Science Institute of Sevilla ¬†(ICMS) was created as a join centre of the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Sevilla and Asuncion Fernandez became a tenured scientist of this Institute in 1987. She successively became Researcher in 1997 and full Professor of CSIC in 2002. She has managed the research group "Nanostructured Materials and Microstructure" since 1991 and is the Director of the ICMS since July 2001.

The research activities of Asuncion Fernandez have been mainly focussed on the physico-chemical study of materials with grain sizes bellow 50 nm (nanomaterials). In particular she worked in the fields of: Semiconductor photocatalysis, surface chemistry and plasma assisted methods for the synthesis of thin films and coatings. Her fundamental investigations have aimed to control the synthesis of nanoparticles and nanostructured thin films; as well as, to apply microstructural characterisation techniques for the study of nanostructured materials at the nano-scale. Important achievements have been done in the preparation and characterization of:

She is author or more than 165 papers in International Journals and 4 internationalized patents, 37 contributions in collective and non SCI volumes and numerous scientific presentations including about 30 invited lectures in International symposia and in Industry or University centres. She leaded more than 30 research projects financed by National and European programs and supervised 9 PhD Thesis. She also leaded more than 12 experiments approved at European Synchrotrons and supervised 8 post-doctoral fellows.

She is associated editor of the "Journal of Metastable and Nanocrystalline Materials". Trans Tech Publications. ISSN 1422-6375, electronic journal. She has been president of the "Physics and Mathematics Committee" of the CNEAI (Spanish National Evaluation Committee for Research activity) (2005-2006); member of the "Production technology Committee" for the Andalusian Research Program, regional evaluation for research activity (2003-2005); referee for evaluation of research projects of the regional government of Galicia (Spain) (2007); director of the Transmission Electron Microscopy general facilities at the Research Centre Isla de la Cartuja since October 1996. Her awards include: "Premio Extraordinario de Licenciatura" (M.Sc. award), University of Cadiz; fellowship of the Max-Planck Gesellschaft for Ph.D. students (Dec.1980-Sep.1981); fellowship of the Alfried Krupp Stiftung for Ph.D. students (Oct.1981-Jun.1983); award for young researchers from "Real Academia Sevillana de Ciencias"-"Royal Academy of Sciences of Sevilla" 1994; Award "Fundacion Domingo Martinez" (1996-97), award "Andaluza que abre caminos 2004" recognition to relevant Andalusian women.

Data Bases
1977 - 1984, Head of the INES data base management system project, one of the most important developments for IBM-360-compatible computers of the early 80s (INES was installed in over 2500 organizations). Theoretical works on data bases.

Artificial Intelligence
1963 - 1977, Chess game programming. Development of the KAISSA chess program. Winner of the First World Computer Chess Championship (with G.Adelson-Velsky, M.Donskoy), Stockholm, 1974.
1988 - 1993, Development of the Optical Character Recognition systems. The OCR system developed in the Institute for System Analysis is the leader in the Cyrillic OCR market.
1993 - present, Speech recognition systems, Creation of speech corpora, Text-to-speech systems.
1995 - present, Handwritten Recognition, Forms Recognition, Pattern Recognition.

Document Management and Workflow
1997 - present, Theory and Development of Document management and Workflow systems.

PUBLIC ACTIVITIES
Member of the scientific council of Institute for System Analysis of Russian Academy of Sciences.
Member of dissertation councils of Institute for System Analysis of Russian Academy of Sciences and of Russian State Oil and Gas University.
Member of the editorial board of periodical "SYSTEMS RESEARCH. Methodological Problems".
Member of the editorial board of periodical "Proceeding of Institute for System Analysis".

PARTICIPATION IN SCIENTIFIC AND COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENTS
Chief designer of instrumental data base management system INES which was installed on more then 2000 mainframes in former USSR.
Head of development of automated control system on international scientific and technical contacts USSR (ASU MNTS).
Chief designer of Information and analytical system "Academinform" developed for Presidium of Russian Academy of Science.
Head of development of first commercial Russian OCR systems Tiger and Cuneiform.
Head of development of Document Management system Euphrates.

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES AND PUBLICATIONS
More than 100 scientific publications, including 7 monographs.
Author of more than 60 Russian Patents in computing technologies.
Author of United States Patent in speech recognition (with D. Bogdanov, E. Komissarchik, A. Ivanov and others).

AWARDS
Gold medal of IFIP for the victory of the KAISSA chess program at the 1974 World Championship.
The USSR Council of Ministers prize for the INES development and implementation.
The medal "For Labour Valour" (the USSR state award).
The medal "Labour Veteran" (the USSR state award).
5 awards of Russian Fair of national economy achievements (VDNCh) for implementations of automatic control systems, mathematical knowledge based planning systems, hybrid computing system and others.
Member of several Russian IT professionals Top-100 lists.

In 1987, Dr. Lau joined The Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company Ltd. (HAECO) as a craft apprentice for three and a half years in the aircraft maintenance division.

Afterward, he received his Bachelor and Master Degrees of Engineering in Aerospace Engineering from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University, Australia) in 1996 and 1997, respectively. Within this period, he was working in General Aviation Maintenance Pty. Ltd. Australia and Corporative Research Centre for Advanced Composite Structure (CRC-ACS) Australia as Engineer Trainee and Research Assistant, respectively for designing a repair scheme for composite performs.

He then received his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2001.
Thereafter, he was appointed as Assistant Professor and then promoted to Associate Professor in 2002 and 2005, respectively. Based on his outstanding research performance in the fields of advanced composites, FRP for infrastructure applications, smart materials and structures and nano-materials, he has received numerous awards which include The Best Paper Awards on Materials (1998), The Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fellowship Award (2000), Young Scientist Award (2002), Young Engineer of the Year Award (2004), Faculty Outstanding Award for Research and Scholarly Activities (2005) and Award for Outstanding Research in Nanocomposites for Space Applications, USA (2006). As his age of 33, due to his significant contribution to the field of science and engineering, he was elected as Corresponding Member of European Academy of Sciences with the citation "for profound contributions to materials science and fundamental developments in the field of composite materials" in 2002, and has now elected as Full Member of the Academy. Dr. Lau has published over 160 scientific and engineering articles and his publications have been cited over 450 times to date.

He has also successfully converted his research findings into real-life practical tools and therefore a total of 7 patents have been granted to him. Since 2002, Dr. Lau has conducted more than 30 industrial-based consultancy projects with different governmental agencies and private sectors. Besides, he has also been handling many industrial-based collaborative projects, which assist the local small and medium sized enterprise (SME) transformation.

He has also been actively organizing different local and international activities for the industry. Currently, he has been serving more than 40 local and international professional bodies as Chairman, Committee Member, Editor and Key Officer to promote the engineering profession to the public.

He has been elected as Chairman of the Fifteenth International Conference on Nano/Composite Engineering, and International Workshop on Multifunctional Materials in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Currently, Dr. Lau has been elected as Chairman of The Institution of Engineering Designers, Hong Kong Branch and Vice President of Engineers Australia, Hong Kong Chapter. He is Fellow of Engineers Australia (FIEAust) and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (FIMechE).

Professor Piero Baglioni
University of Florence (Italia)

Piero Baglioni is full professor of Physical Chemistry and lecturer of "Physical Chemistry of Disperse Systems and Interfaces" at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Florence. He has been appointed as Visiting Scientist/Professor by some prestigious Laboratories such as the Department of Chemistry of the University of Houston, the Weizmann Institute, the Collège de France, and the M.I.T.

He is the Director of the National Consortium for Nanosystems (CSGI); he is in the Advisory Board and reviewer of several international journals, and International organization (European Science Foundation, ESF, National Science Foundation, NSF) . He is member of the scientific board of several national and international Institutions, industries (Italcementi, FAST, HMI, etc.) and Journals, coordinator of several National and European Union's projects.

Piero Baglioni is the author of more than 250 publications on books and largely diffused international journals. He is also the author of 12 patents for the preparation of aqueous suspensions at high concentration of particulate, for the therapy and photodynamic diagnosis of tumors, for the conservation of the cultural heritage, for the setup of a new process for the treatment of textile industrial waste, for production of emulsions from Bio Crude Oil, for production of nanoparticles and novel nano-coatings via flame-spraying, and using homogeneous and heterogeneous solutions.

Piero Baglioni produced several innovations in the field of both inorganic and organic colloids. Within the broad field of modern colloid and surface chemistry, his research is mainly concentrated into the following areas: (1) Self-assembly of bio-inspired surfactants (nucleolipid and ascorbic acid derivatives) and of biomolecules (cyclodextrins) (2) Core-shell nanostructures with tunable magnetic properties (3) Inorganic nanophases applied to Cultural Heritage conservation and to nanocoating of materials (building materials, textiles, etc..) (4) Interaction potentials in protein solutions (5) Nanostrucutured surfaces for biosensors application (6) Additive effects on microstructure and hydration in cement pastes (7) Confined water in inorganic and biological matrices.

Professor François Pichault University of Liege, Belgium

After a Phd in sociology under the joint supervision of Pr Michel Crozier (CSO, Paris) and P.Lebrun (Liège), François Pichault began his academic career as an assistant professor at the University of Liège. In 1986, he founded and became the President of LENTIC; a research centre focussed on the socio-organizational aspects of innovation and changes processes. This centre, grouping about 15 research fellows from different disciplinary backgrounds (economics, sociology, management, psychology, communication, etc.), has reached an international notoriety and is integrated in numerous academic networks at the European level.

During the winter 1990, Pr Pichault spent a sabbatical leaf at Mc Gill University (Montreal), with Pr Mintzberg. After this meeting, he published with his colleague Jean Nizet (Catholic University of Louvain) several books devoted to the configurational analysis of organizations and HRM policies.

As a visiting teacher, he worked in various universities and academic institutions like: Catholic University of Louvain, Royal Military Institute of Brussels, HEC Paris, University of Paris-Dauphine, University of Grenoble III (UNESCO Chair), etc. Since 2004, he is affiliated professor at ESCP-EAP, Paris.

He was involved in various cooperation programmes with St Joseph University (Lebanon), Abomey-Calavi University (Benin), IFAG (Bulgaria), State University of Minsk (Belarus), etc.
He is currently Director of Research of HEC-Management School, at the University of Liège.

Pr Pichault can be defined as a social scientist among business practitioners, combining theoretical knowledge with empirical experience in organizations submitted to change processes. With his team, he has been in charge of various action researches in Belgian and foreign companies belonging to various sectors such as: steel, IT, glass, electricity, automobile, food, biotechnology, plastics, bank and insurance, railways, express cargo, international organizations, Belgian public agencies, non profit organizations, etc.
Such an empirical experience helped him to develop a critical and in-depth view on the main evolutions of the labour market, with a special interest for technological innovations, new organizational forms (network organizations) and flexible labour patterns and their social perceptions. His original perspective has been presented in more than ten books and several dozens of scientific papers.

Professor Claude Imbert Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris (France)

Professor Claude Imbert is a philosopher by training. She obtained her Ph. D. at the Ecole Normale Superieure of Paris, a first degree in mathematics and mathematical logic (Harvard University and Institut Poincaré, Paris), and a first degree in old languages and literature (Greek and Latin).
Professor at the Ecole Normale Superieure de Paris, later Chairman of its department of philosophy, she specialized in history of logic and epistemology. She became member of several scientific commissions of historians of sciences and philosophers of sciences. She was also associate professor at the University of California (Davis), associate Professor at the University John Hopkins (Baltimore), Scholar of the Getty Foundation (Los Angeles), Fellow at Trinity College (Cambridge, 2003), associate Professor at Fudan University (Shangaï).

Elected as President of the Jury of the Institut Universitaire de France in 2006, she is now Professor Emerita.
Her research works and publications were mostly devoted to history and anthropology of logic systems (Greek logic, Port-Royal, Kant, Frege, Wittgenstein, Levi-Strauss); history of painting and symbolic systems; epistemology, cognitivism; contemporary philosophy. She published several books as author or co-author on these subjects, and numerous articles in French, Portuguese, Brazilian, American, English, German, Chinese, Japanese, Rumanian and Italian journals.

For her institute, she was in charge of various foreign missions, in United States, United Kingdom, Spain, China, Chili, Columbia, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Portugal, India, Argentina, Canada, Tunisia, Israel, Australia and Switzerland.

She is now, for the Ecole Normale Supérieure, responsible of the seminars, in which she proposes challenging questions pervading human and social sciences when they are facing a second modernism. Her present seminars are organized with Universities of U.S., China, U.K., Italy, Germany, Brazil, Tunisia and France.

She always gave a great importance to popularizing social sciences, and notably philosophy; she gave numerous conferences and participated in various emissions of radio and television and conferences.

Professor Krister Holmberg Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden

Krister Holmberg was born and brought up in Göteborg, Sweden. He graduated with a MSc degree in Chemical Engineering from Chalmers University of Technology in 1970 and continued studies towards a PhD degree at the same university. He did his thesis work in organic chemistry, studying various aspects of the Diels-Alder reaction under the supervision of Professor Erich Adler.

After having completed his PhD in 1974 he moved to Helsingborg to work as a researcher at Leo, a pharmaceutical company later bought by Pharmacia (which was subsequently acquired by Pfizer). At the end of 1976 he moved to Berol Kemi, a major Swedish chemical company, where he became head of R&D of their division for paint binders. He worked for the chemical industry until 1991, first at Berol Kemi's division for paint binders, then at Eka Kemi and then back at Berol Kemi, now as Research Director of the company. During these years he gradually moved from organic synthesis to surface chemistry. During the latter years at Berol Kemi (which during this time changed names to Berol Nobel and subsequently to Akzo Nobel Surfactants) he built strong ties to Göteborg University. Between 1984 and 1991 he was Adjunct Professor of biotechnological surface chemistry at the university. During these years he supervised several students, employees at the company, to a PhD exam in surface chemistry related to biotechnological problems. One major theme was bioorganic synthesis in microemulsions and other organized surfactant systems. Another research area was "temporary biocides", cationic amphiphiles with a weak bond in the structure. The idea was to design biocides with controlled half life.

In 1991 Krister Holmberg was offered a position as Director of the Institute for Surface Chemistry (YKI) in Stockholm, Sweden. YKI is a well-known institution in surface chemistry with some 80 member companies around the world and with a staff of around 100. At YKI he continued his research on biological surface chemistry. Together with coworkers at the institute and in collaboration with scientists in Gainesville, Florida, Huntsville, Alabama and Lyon he developed methods to make protein-resistant surfaces of interest for medical and biotechnical applications. The technique proved to be particularly interesting for solid phase immunoassay. A procedure was developed to immobilize antibodies to such surfaces and these antibodies retained activity better than antibodies attached by the conventional procedure.

Krister Holmberg moved to Chalmers University of Technology in 1998 to become Professor of Surface Chemistry. Since 2003 he is also the Dean of Chemical and Biological Engineering. He has established a large research group active in many areas of applied surface chemistry. Preparation of nanomaterials using self-assembled surfactants as templates became an important research field and he collaborates closely with groups in Paris and in Gainesville, Florida. The microemulsion technique is used to make nanoparticles composed of single noble metal or metal alloys and micellar solutions of block copolymers in water are used for making mesoporous oxides, such as silica, alumina and titania and also mesoporous graphite. Nobel metal nanoparticles are inserted into the pores of the mesoporous graphite. Heterogeneous catalysis is the main application of this work.

Microemulsions and other microheterogeneous systems are also used as reaction media for organic and bioorganic synthesis. Such reaction systems are ideally suited to overcome incompatibility problems sometimes encountered in organic synthesis. In this respect the microemulsion approach can be seen as an alternative to phase transfer catalysis. Krister Holmberg showed that very high reactivity can be obtained by combining the two approaches.
In recent years Krister Holmberg has combined organic synthesis with nanomaterials. The pores of mesoporous oxides, which are water-filled, are used as host for a homogeneous catalyst, a metal organic compound or an enzyme, and the catalyst-loaded particles are kept as a suspension in a hydrocarbon were the substrate is dissolved. A rhodium-based catalyst with water soluble ligands was used for carbon-carbon coupling reactions and a lipase was used for esterifications and transesterifications.

Born September 1943, in Périgueux, France, Alain Tressaud graduated from Bordeaux University, 1964 where he got a "Doctorat en Chimie" in 1967 and a "Doctorat-des-Sciences Physiques" in 1969. His mentor in solid-state chemistry was Prof. Paul Hagenmuller, Director of Laboratoire de Chimie du Solide, Bordeaux, the initiator of the new born European school of solid-state chemistry. A post-doctoral stay, as a NATO fellow, in the laboratory of Neil Bartlett at Berkeley, CA, ¬†initiated an interest in high oxidation-state fluorine chemistry.

Research appointments at CNRS began in 1966 and he became successively: "Maître de Recherche" , 1976, Research Director (2nd class 1982, 1st class 1992). He has managed the Fluorine Group in Bordeaux for several decades, and is now responsible at ICMCB-CNRS for the running of the Functionalized Materials Group, which comprises about thirty researchers involved in Fluorine, Hybrid materials and Nanoparticles topics.

He is the author of more than 300 papers in International Journals and 12 internationalized patents, 7 books as editor or major contributor, numerous scientific presentations, including about 100 invited lectures in International symposia and in Industry or University centres.

The research activities of Alain Tressaud have been mainly focused on fluorine chemistry and fluorinated materials, first at the Laboratoire de Chimie du Solide, and later at the Institute for Condensed Matter Chemistry of Bordeaux (ICMCB-CNRS), University ¬†Bordeaux1. His fundamental investigations have aimed at improving our understanding of the dependence of magnetic, electronic and optical properties of solids on structure and bonding. Important achievements have been new synthetic routes to binary and complex fluorides; the preparation of novel oxidation-state transition-element compounds; and the demonstration of dramatic dependence of electronic properties on structural changes induced by pressure in mixed oxidation-state species. These studies, from which he has acquired international recognition, have suggested improved materials for uses in fields such as catalysis, energy storage, and optronics.

He has been an Invited Scientist at the University of California, Berkeley-USA; Philipps Universität, Marburg-Germany; Universidad La Laguna-Spain; NPL, New Delhi-India; Kyoto University and Aichi Institute Technology-Japan, and since 1998 has been an Associate Scientist of the Institute Jozef Stefan, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
He is Founder and Chairman of the French Network on Fluorine Chemistry and co-Founder of the French-Japanese Seminars on Fluorine chemistry. His book series "Advances in Fluorine Science" (since 2005) of which he is founding editor-in-chief, was motivated by important society issues: environment, health, new technologies. He is a member of the scientific board of the Journal of Fluorine Chemistry, and has served as Guest Editor for that and other journals. In 2006 he was in charge of the scientific aspects of the celebration of the centenary of Henri Moissan's Nobel Prize.

Alain Tressaud is concerned to improve exchanges between scientific communities worldwide. For this purpose he has been involved as chairman or as a member of the scientific board in numerous International Symposia: Intercalation Chemistry (ISIC), Fluorine Chemistry (ISFC, ESFC), A.C.S. national meetings, French-Japanese Seminars, Intersiberian International Seminars (ISIF).

Professor Frans Carl De Schryver K.U. Leuven (Belgium)

Frans De Schryver was born in St. Niklaas (W) on September 21st 1939. He obtained the degree of doctor in sciences in 1964. Afterwards he had post-doctoral training in polymer chemistry at the University of Arizona 1964-1966 (under the guidance of prof. C.S. Marvel) and stayed for a short time at the University of Stuttgart in 1970 (under the guidance of prof. Th. Förster) and at the Max-Planck-Institut für Biophysikalische Chemie, Abt. Spektroskopie in 1971 (under the guidance of prof. A. Weller). At the K.U.Leuven he was appointed docent (1969), professor (1973) and full professor (1975) and became in October 2004 emeritus. He has been for many years involved in the area of photochemistry and photophysics. His research has focused on fundamental aspects of photochemistry and photophysics and their use in the study of physicochemical properties of complex systems. During the last 10 years he contributed primarily to the emerging field of time and space resolved (photo)chemistry including scanning probe microscopy, optical microscopy and single molecule spectroscopy., He has published over 600 papers.

He was a visiting professor in many Universities and held appointments as a long time associate at The Université Catholique de Louvain and the Stellenbosch University.
He is a member of the Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten and was president of the Klasse van de Natuurwetenschappen (2002). He received following awards: Fulbright Research Fellowship in 1964, was a Laureate of Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen van België, a Senior Research Awardee of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in 1993, Recipient of the Chaire Bruylants in 199. He was a Porter Medalist, awarded jointly by the European, Inter-American and Japanese Photochemical Societies, and a Recipient of a Francqui Chair in 1998. He received the Havinga Medal and was holder of the Förster Memorial Lecturer in 1999. He was further awarded the Frontiers in Biochemistry Award in 2000, the Max-Planck-Forschungspreis für Chemie in 2001, the International Award of the Japanese Photochemical society and the special medal of The University of Groningen in 2005.
He is Editor in chief of Photchemical and Photobiological Sciences, associated editor of ChemPhysChem and member of the Editorial Board of Angewandte Chemie and Chem Phys Lett.

Professor Sir John Meurig Thomas University of Cambridge, UK

Professor Sir John Meurig Thomas was born and brought up in a Welsh mining valley; and his interest in science was aroused as a teenager when his physics mistress talked about the life and work of Michael Faraday, who has remained one of his scientific heroes. He graduated with a Bachelor's degree from the University of Wales, Swansea, and completed his PhD at the University of London. His first academic appointment (1958) was at the University of Wales, Bangor, where inter alia he demonstrated the profound influence that dislocations and other structural imperfections exert upon the chemical, electronic and surface properties of solids. He became Professor and Head of Chemistry at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth in 1969, where he broadened his interests in solid-state, surface and materials chemistry and pioneered the application of electron microscopy in chemistry. In 1978 he became Head of the Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Cambridge, where his development of new techniques in solid-state and materials science, and his design and synthesis of new catalysts progressed greatly. From 1986 to 1991 he was Director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, London, where he occupied the chair that was created for Michael Faraday. He was also Director of the Davy Faraday Research Laboratory.

At Cambridge he extended his earlier electron microscopic and surface studies of minerals and intercalates to encompass the synthesis and structural determination of zeolitic materials by a combination of solid-state NMR, neutron scattering and real-space imaging. At London he added synchrotron radiation to his armoury and devised techniques which combine X-ray spectroscopy and high-resolution X-ray diffraction to determine the atomic structure of active sites of solid catalysts under operating conditions. He introduced and pioneered so-called single-site heterogeneous catalysts, which offers a widely applicable method of designing new solid catalysts to meet the challenges of clean technology. He also designed new microporous and mesoporous catalysts, onto the inner surfaces of which active centres (for isomerizations, epoxidations, chiral hydrogenations and chiral amination) were grafted from organo-metallic precursors. With his PDRA, Dr Raja, he devised molecular sieve catalysts that convert n-alkanes to n-alkanols, cyclohexane or cyclohexene to adipic acid, n-hexane to adipic acid and cyclohexanone to its oxime and caprolactam, all in air under solvent-free conditions. One of his inventions, the single-step, solvent-free catalytic synthesis of ethyl acetate, is the basis of a 220,000 ton p.a. industrial plant in the U.K., the largest of its kind in the world. One of his most significant recent catalytic innovations - the boosting of the enantioselectivity of asymmetric organometallic catalysts by constraining them within mesoporous supports - has been multiply patented (2003) by German industry as a means of producing enantiomerically enriched hydroxycarboxylic esters. His work on the production of caprolactam (precursor to nylon-6), published in PNAS (2005), is a significant advance in "green" chemistry.

He is the author of over 1000 research papers and twenty-five patents, of two definitive university texts on heterogeneous catalysis (1967 and 1997), and of Michael Faraday and the Royal Institution: The Genius of Man and Place (1991; Japanese translation, 1994; Italian translation, 2007), and co-editor of many other monographs. His awards include the Davy Medal and the Bakerian and Rutherford Lectureships of the Royal Society, the Faraday Medal, Longstaff Medal, the Sir George Stokes Gold Medal and four others of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Messel Gold Medal of the Society of Chemical Industry, the Semenov Centenary Medal of the Russian Academy of Science, the Willard Gibbs Gold Medal of the American Chemical Society and the first recipient of the Award for Creative Research in Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Catalysis, also of the American Chemical Society. An FRS since 1977, in 1999 he was elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering for work that "has profoundly added to the science-base of heterogeneous catalysis leading to the commercial exploitation of zeolites through engineering processes". He is a Foreign Member or Hon. Foreign Fellow of sixteen other national and international academies and holds numerous honorary doctorates from Australian, British, Canadian, Dutch, Egyptian, French, Italian, Japanese, Spanish and US universities. In 2000 The Electron Microscopy and Microanalysis Society of America held a symposium in his honour at their annual convention in Philadelphia. Stanford University awarded him the Linus Pauling Gold Medal in 2003 for his contributions to the advancement of science, and the Italian Chemical Society their Guilio Natta Gold Medal for meritorious work in catalysis. He is one of the world's most highly cited chemists. In recognition of his contributions to geochemistry, a new mineral, meurigite, was named after him in 1995 by the International Association of Mineralogy (the only living chemist to be so honoured).

He is founding co-editor-in-chief of Catalysis Letters (1987), Topics in Catalysis (1992), and Current Opinion in Solid-State and Materials Science (1996).
He has done much to popularise science among young people and adult lay audiences, giving numerous lecture-demonstrations, radio, television, and National Portrait Gallery talks: his Royal Institution Christmas Lectures on crystals were broadcast on BBC national TV in 1987. He served (1982-85) as a science advisor in the U.K. Government Cabinet Office Committee, as Chairman of CHEMRAWN (chemical research applied to world needs), and Trustee of the Science Museum and of the Natural History Museum, London. In 1991 he was knighted for his services to chemistry and the popularisation of science.
Currently he is Honorary Professor of Solid State Chemistry at the Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy, University of Cambridge and Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at the Davy Faraday Laboratory. He also holds Visiting Professorships at Cardiff, Southampton and South Carolina and is an Honorary Professor at Osaka Prefecture University, Japan and Jilin University, China. From 1993 to 2002 he was Master (Head) of Peterhouse, the oldest college in the University of Cambridge.
He is Vice-President of Cambridge University Musical Society.

Professor Brian F. Johnson University of Cambridge, UK

Born in September 1938 and brought up in Northampton, England, Professor's Johnson's interest in Science was greatly aroused as a young boy by the excellence of the education he received from the Masters at the Northampton Grammar School, and later by the staff at the University of Nottingham. He graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry in 1960, and completed his PhD under the guidance of Professor C.C.Addison at the same University in 1963. His first academic appointment was at the University of Manchester, where he first developed his interest in organometallic chemistry, in particular the chemistry of the metal carbonyls, and helped to pioneer the application of mass spectroscopy in the identification of polynuclear carbonyl systems. He became lecturer in Chemistry at University College London in 1967 where he broadened his interests in the chemistry of metal clusters, and developed new synthetic routes to cluster systems. From 1970-1978 he was a lecturer at the University of Cambridge, and Reader from 1978-1990.

At Cambridge he together with Professor Lord Lewis extended his earlier studies of metal carbonyl clusters to encompass the synthesis and structure determination of this important class of compounds by a combination of X-ray crystallography, mass spectroscopy, and NMR spectroscopy. In 1991 he was elected to the Crum Brown Chair of Chemistry a the University of Edinburgh, and began to develop an active interest in the implications of the organometallic clusters for the chemistry of organic compounds on metallic surfaces. This was to lead to the development of the Ligand Polyhedral Model, which for the first time led to the understanding of the ground-state structures that the cluster carbonyls adopt. He was further able to apply this same model to a new understanding and broader appreciation of the fluxional behaviour of the same systems, which takes place on the NMR time-scale in both the solid and solution.¬†

He returned to Cambridge in 1995 when he was elected to the 1970 Chair of Inorganic Chemistry. It was on his return that he together with Sir John-Meurig Thomas designed new nanocatalysts for the highly selective chiral hydrogenation, chiral ammination and oxidation of organic substrates. This led to extensive studies of clean catalysts for green technology and to the application of solvent free catalysts for many important organic conversions. A major success was the demonstration that nano-catalysts could be designed to order having a specific composition and established structure and could be studied from cradle to grave. In this connection, he has also invented new catalytic systems for the production of carbon and other nanotubes for commercial application and which have been applied for the generation of new electronic devices and lubricants.¬†

He is author of over 1000 research papers and patents, and several texts on Cluster systems. He is a Fellow of The Royal Society, a Fellow of The Royal Society of Edinburgh, a Fellow of The Royal Society of Chemistry, and a Fellow of Academia Europa. His awards include, amongst others, the Corday-Morgan Medal and Prize, the Sir Edward Frankland Award and Prize. The RSC Award for Chemistry and Electrochemistry of the Transition Metals.